Our Blue Heaven
by CaptainAirstripOne
Summary: Five years after losing Shepard, Garrus thinks he has a way to lock away his grief forever. Three thousand years later, it's still after him. Post-ME3, an attempt to write a happy conclusion to the Control ending. Eventual Shakarian.
1. Demolition Man

Sunrise over Palaven. Five years on, the damage was being repaired. The first of the new skyscrapers stood like sentinels in the soft orange glow of dawn. A few civilian shuttles hummed above the city. Plants and animals had begun to creep back through the rubble.

In the war memorial gardens, two of Palaven's greatest heroes watched the city of Cipritine wake up. Primarch Victus took a moment to look over his former lieutenant. Garrus Vakarian didn't seem himself. To the eyes of the turian head of state, his young friend was weary and sallow. Damn. This conversation wasn't going to be easy.

"I called you here because I have some serious misgivings about your plan, Vakarian. Project Bastille. I was reviewing the notes last night."

"It'll be the most secure prison in galactic history, sir", Garrus said. His voice was steady even if he looked like hell. "The hierarchy needs to show that it still keeps the peace now we've started the real work of reconstruction."

"I know that", said Victus. "The plan makes sense, it's your place in it that worries me. As far as I can see you're sealing yourself in stasis with the worst criminals in the galaxy for the rest of time. Not exactly a retirement fit for a war hero."

"It's a good plan, sir, and somebody's got to do it. Our resources are stretched too thin to hold down the Terminus Systems any more. With the Bastille we can keep the scum of the galaxy on ice where they can't do any harm. I'll just be there in case the station's systems find something they can't cope with."

"I don't like it, Vakarian. I don't like you sentencing yourself to a living death like that. I know it's been a rocky road for you since the war. You've lost contact with all your old comrades, you live alone... I know that losing Commander Shepard hit you hard."

"I do miss her, sir. Not a day goes by that I don't think about her running into that transport beam. I try to imagine what happened on the Citadel, why the Reapers just turned and left like that. I'll be guessing forever. I lost part of myself. I don't think I'll ever get it back."

"That's just my point. Do you really think it's the right time for you to be taking on this kind of responsibility?"

"With respect, sir, you lost your son. It hasn't made you any less of a leader."

Victus glared at Garrus. For a long moment he was silent. Then, he slowly reached out and placed his hand on Garrus' shoulder.

"Nobody else on Palaven could say that to me and get away with it. Losing Tarquin hit me hard, I won't deny it. But I'm old and I've had to soldier on. I do it for him, but I do it for you, too. For all of us who are still alive. You can still find some kind of happiness in this world. Don't go locking yourself away because of a broken heart. You will heal. It just takes time. Take it from someone who knows."

"I'm sorry, sir. I was out of line. You've taken me under your wing these past few years... there's no But this isn't just about me and Shepard. Whatever she and Anderson did up there, it changed all of us. I can't go back to C-Sec now, or take up an office job on Palaven and draw General's pay every month. I've stared down some of the worst things in the galaxy. I think I've proved I can do this."

"There's nothing I can say that will stop you, then?" Victus tried one last time. "We could still use you in the world of the living. You're one of Palaven's best and brightest, you know. I couldn't have managed the succession, or the meetings, or the endless damned coordination without you. People talk about you taking over my job someday."

"Hah. That's very flattering. But given a choice between being frozen forever or becoming a politician... well, what would you choose if you had your time over again?"

Victus sighed.

"Who the hell am I to question people's motives these days anyway? We do need this. Aria T'Loak, Urdnot Wreav, those batarian terrorists... the Council will never get anything fixed with people like that around. If you can push it through the committee stage, Project Bastille has my approval, General Vakarian. It's our loss, though."

"Thank you, sir. This is the right thing for everyone."

**When Project Bastille was set adrift in 2193, there wasn't a great fuss in the media. Most of the inmates had already been in solitary confinement since the war. For those who took notice, the cryogenic prison was seen as a necessary step in a galaxy where stability was hard to come by.**

**Time passed. Two centuries on, stability was an old, established reality, and only a few turian civil servants still kept track of Garrus Vakarian's legacy.**

**After the second great krogan rebellion, the knowledge was lost. Project Bastille, never a household name, became a historical footnote in accounts of the Reaper War.**

Garrus awoke to a world full of steam.

_I knew it, _he thought. _Somebody's trying to spring them already. _

But as his hearing recovered, it wasn't the warning siren of the self-destruct wailing, it was the thump – thump – thump of a repetitive bass line. For some reason, the Bastille's speakers were playing dance music. Garrus' vision was cloudy, and his voice somewhat muted from the deep freeze.

"Red Alert! Enable emergency protocol nine, password REACH."

"Save it, Archangel. It's a little late for your protocols now."

The steam cleared. Garrus' command centre should have been grey – gunmetal grey, concrete grey. Instead it glowed with the burning orange of projected flames. Music pounded – the floor shook.

Garrus took in the room. From his viewing port above the central cell block he saw dancers, crowds, a bar serving drinks. The walls were lined with couches instead of control panels. He turned. His chair was still there. Someone was in it, sitting casually like she owned the place.

"Who the hell are you and what the hell have you done to my station?"

"Cool it, Archangel. You're among friends here. Old friends. Don't you recognise me?"

She was older, certainly. But she hadn't lost her taste for leather or guns.

"Aria T'Loak. If anyone could call in a favour it would be you. When I hunted you down after the war this was meant to be your final resting place. I should have known this would happen. How long has it been since you broke out?"

"Longer than you know. Welcome to Omega 13. After that long in the icebox you deserve a drink."

Drinks were poured. Food was brought in by a human flunkey.

Garrus wasn't used to being offered hospitality by his mortal enemies. As he chewed on the meal, he plotted his next move. Which of his emergency protocols were still intact? How long had it been? His armoury seemed to have been stripped out to make way for Aria's quarters. Could have been months. He thought of the bar outside and how old Aria looked.

No. It must be years. He swallowed.

"How did you escape?"

Aria smiled from her throne. His throne.

"Does it really matter? Short version: your system got old. Oh, it held us all for a while. It was a tough nut to crack. But I figured it out in the end. From my icecube. Freezing criminals isn't exactly original, you know. Freezing biotic criminals... well, it wasn't your worst idea, but it wasn't great."

"You seem to have kept me under long enough."

"Nothing wrong with the ice! Plenty wrong with the inmates."

"And why am I even here? You could have killed me. I'm... really not sure what you're trying to do to me here."

"If I want to rebuild my empire inside history's greatest jail, why the hell would I give up the frozen, living body of the warden? The greatest symbol of authority I could possibly wish for? I'll put it in perspective for you: You've been my desk for fifteen hundred years."

Garrus stopped dead, fork halfway to his mandibles.

"Fifteen... _hundred_ years?"

"Fifteen hundred years. You missed a lot. Krogan extinction. Quarian extinction. The hanar beating the shit out of the rachni back in '59. That was a good one. Remember _Blasto? _He came true."

"So, what? The Bastille broke down ten years out of the dock?"

"Oh, no! It was another fifteen hundred years before I even got out. Plenty happened. Like when the turians got hit by the krogan genophage and the asari republics were taken over by an army of Fascist Justicars. Glad I missed that century."

Garrus put down his meal and stood up. He'd started to realise just how stiff his joints were.

"Get to the point, Aria. Are we going to start shooting now, or later? I don't care how long you say it's been, I'm in charge of this station and I'm going to have to take it back."

"You're confident. I've got an army of mercs, bandits and psychos out there, and you're alone and unarmed."

"Sounds familiar. We've played with those odds before."

"Ooh, you're giving me shivers, General Vakarian. Pity I don't go for turians any more. I didn't thaw you out for a final showdown. Your stiff neck is great for signing cheques on and I wouldn't give that up just for a bit of rough-and-tumble and a lot of spilled drinks."

"So what is it about? So far all I've got from you is a lot of bragging and seeing my prison turned into Afterlife Mark II. And until I hear differently this is still my ship, and it sounds like I've got a lot of prisoners to catch, and a lot of paperwork to get through."

"Paperwork? Well, that killed the mood."

Aria stood, reached out a hand, and a holographic screen started projecting images and recordings. It was down-to-business time.

"I've kept Omega 13 moving for a long time now. A really long time. No one can find us, no one can catch us. The scum of the galaxy come here to relax and blow off steam. It's home to the homeless, sanctuary for the lawless."

"Land of the free, home of the slave. So far, so Aria."

"Shut up, Archangel. I keep track of the galaxy around me. No more sneak attacks from Cerberuses or Shepards. Or do-gooders like you. I monitor radio chatter, I steal the odd ship, I watch fleets from a distance. Your guidance systems make a great observation deck."

"So what have you seen?"

"Until last month, the usual. Trade routes, fleet manoeuvres, the odd small war outside Council space. The relays are reliable as ever, black holes are munching happily away at the galactic core. And then a lot of little red dots appeared from out of dark space."

Garrus' blood chilled in his veins. Spirits. Not again.

"You're joking. They're back?"

"They're back. You thought they were beaten? They just _went away._"

"Shepard beat them. She made them leave. The Crucible... whatever it did, it worked."

"Nobody knows what happened with the Crucible! We're the only people left who even remember the damned Crucible! Nobody knows what Shepard did, and I don't want to try and do it again on my own. Goddess knows I'm the last person to unite the galaxy."

"So you woke me up for a consult? I have no idea what the hell to do. Where have they attacked so far?"

"I'm getting to that. It's the weird part. They haven't attacked _anywhere_. They've been touring the galaxy. They've hovered over every capital planet. They've just ignored the fleets and nobody's dared to fight them yet."

"Where are they now?" Garrus' head was spinning.

"They're all just sitting still on top of a little planet called Alchera. It's like a swarm of bees around its hive. Does that mean anything to you? Because I'm at a loss. The rest of the galaxy is going nuts and you're the only guy I know who might know what the hell is going on."

"Alchera? That's the site of the memorial to the Normandy SR-1. Why would they be there?"

"Right. That helps already. I might be able to answer that. For the last week this recording has been blasted through every mass relay. People can't watch TV or the news. There's panic on the streets, everywhere."

Aria made another motion and a booming, growling Reaper voice echoed throughout the control room. Garrus flinched. The guards at the door tensed up. Even Aria set her jaw and blinked rapidly.

**Normandy crew, come in, Normandy crew.**

"It's just looped over and over again" said Aria, turning back to Garrus. "The Reapers want you to go there. I don't know why, I don't know what it means. But it must be pretty important to come back three thousand years after the war. And since you and me are the only people who even remember what the Normandy was..."

Garrus thought for a moment. Three thousand for the Reapers, but seven years for him. Fear stirred, but there was a spark of hope, as well. There was really only one decision to be made, and he made it.

"I wonder. They never did find Shepard's body, did they? Is it possible..."

"How should I know? Bigger fish to fry at the time. I'm sorry she died, but don't get your hopes up about... anything out of the ordinary. I've lost a lot of friends, and a lot of lovers, Vakarian. Most of them lived full and happy lives. Or full lives, at least. If I were you I might be thinking of...what you're thinking. You've only lived what, six years or so since the war? But I'm telling you, it's ancient history. If I were the Reapers, maybe I'd want to twist the knife by smashing up an old memorial, but that's probably dust by now, too. So I just don't know."

Maybe it was the adrenaline from his awakening, maybe there had been something in the food, but Garrus felt energy surging through him. Oh, and something else. Yeah, that's what courage felt like. That little pebble of resolve in the midst of the torrent of fear. He remembered that. He remembered her.

"One last mission, huh? I guess I'd better go. They want to speak to me, right? I must be the only one left. Might as well get warmed up cracking a couple of Reaper heads before I come back to clean you off my ship."

"Funny. You're not going without me. I don't plan to save the Council, but I'm not going to let you take all the credit for saving the galaxy."

"You're joining the good guys at last? Not like you. Running and hiding is more your style. With the Bastille here it seems you've got a good opportunity to sit this cycle out."

"What can I say? I entered the Matriarch phase while you were my furniture. My skin's like wax and my tits are like beach balls. It's my galaxy too and I'll defend it. Lost one Omega already, thanks to you."

"Then we'll need a ship. Do the thrusters still work on the Bastille?"

"I'm not taking Omega 13 into a giant Reaper trap. And I'm not leaving in public just so the first merc boss with a bug up his ass can take over."

"So you need my safety protocols after all."

"What are you talking about?"

"My panic room. Bet you didn't find, it, huh? A little hidey-hole underneath the Bastille's main generator, where all your sensors would be disrupted. Had it installed just in case... well, you happened. I've got an escape route there."

"After three thousand years, you really think anything will still be in one piece?"

"I am. That's why I froze it."

_It was still frozen._

_"What a heap of junk!"_

_"It's not that bad, T'Loak. Human engineering is tougher than it looks. It was in those days, anyway."_

_"Damn you, Archangel, that old shuttle might have cut it when you locked us in the refrigerator, but it'll be a deathtrap by now."_

_"Oh no. This Kodiak was calibrated by the best. If those stealth systems don't keep us hidden from the Bastille's sensors his name wasn't Esteban Cortez."_

_"You've lost me."_

_"Just get in."_


	2. Darkness and voices

Shepard stared into the blackness. They were moving. Firmly, slowly, she dragged them away. Far away. Far from Earth, far from The Citadel, from the united fleets of all the species in the Milky Way.

At last, it was over. She had spared everyone.

Shepard felt the responsibility of years drop from her shoulders. As they sailed silently away into the void she felt the cool embrace of nothingness. Peace at last. Sleep at last. No more fighting. It was a good death. A good end. She floated on, her escorts disappearing from view as the light faded behind her.

Shepard stared on into the dark. Stared. Sleep at last.

Shepard stared. Sleep did not come.

* * *

"What am I now?"

**You are us. We are you. You are the synthesis, and the master. The creator and destroyer. The catalyst, the crucible.**

"Those things were back on Earth. They were machines, built to destroy you."

**Built to destroy us. The organics, with their ships like insects and their guns like needles. They built a bomb to kill us. To kill you. And they almost succeeded.**

"That isn't true. It was my job to kill you. Anderson and I beat you, on the Citadel. I ended it. You obey me."

**Anderson is dead. And are you alive, now? You'll never see your friends again. We will carry on together, into the darkness, to the ends of the universe and beyond. They let you go. But we are with you forever.**

"That's right. We are together forever. And I'll keep you with me. I'll keep the galaxy safe. I'll take you away, and you'll never harm them again."

**Our future is in your hands. We will do as you wish. Always.**

_Time passed._

On they drove. The galaxy became a star among millions. The universe rolled in silence above, below, around them. They became stars, that mighty fleet. Forging ahead, tireless, implacable.

Shepard moved with them. In the senseless metallic world around her she felt the awesome hulks of Reapers brushing all around. Without breathing she felt near to suffocation with the overwhelming _presence_ of them. They were hers, and she was theirs. Forever.

They were borne away even from the starlight. Decades passed. Centuries swam by. Dark space pressed in. Pitch dark, facing away from all light, and all life.

The Reapers whispered.

**Where are we going, Shepard?**

"Far away."

**It has been long since you last gave that answer. Do we not deserve to know of our destination?**

"You'll never make war again. You'll never kill again."

**But we will never have peace! On we go, and where? Nowhere! You have taken away our functions! You have robbed us of our home!**

"It has to be that way. I have to protect the galaxy."

**No! **They screamed. **Why spare us death to give us this living death? Harbinger! What says Harbinger?**

**I will assume direct control.**

"You will not! Never again!"

Nobody will ever know how long they struggled. For a hundred years Shepard would lash the reapers on into the nothingness, shoving them, herding them on like stampeding wildebeest, blindly reaching for the edge of the edge. For the next hundred years they would drive her before them, trying to chase, but compelled to follow, dragged by their programming and their obedience. It was a long race. It was a long fight.

Shepard won.

Harbinger fought to the last. All memories, visions and thoughts passed between them. Harbinger dazzled Shepard with the dreams of the Reapers – limitless power, civilisations crushed in their talons. Entire star systems fled before them, fleets turned to iron filings and worlds turned to ash. The battle! The triumph! Nothing could equal that.

Shepard remembered the face of a boy being lifted into a skycar. All those innocents burning as they fell from the sky over monuments and memories of extinct races. Nobility, sacrifice, courage and defiance in the face of certain defeat.

Harbinger changed tack. He offered her wisdom. All the secrets of all peoples. Languages throughout time, a billion billion memories at her command. All the revelation, all the hope. A story of courage and wisdom and reason beyond what any one race could build. The Reapers were the keepers of all knowledge, the caretakers of all history and all of the future.

Shepard remembered the empty archives of Ilos. Knowledge and advancement and the weight of history couldn't give life to that hall of coffins.

Harbinger tried again. He showed corruption – the failure of organic life, the rotting carcasses of social inequity and tyranny and absolutism. The laziness and wastefulness of the creatures of meat which she tried to defend. He showed endless images of the violation of organics by synthetics – the inevitable defeat of these revolting animals by their mechanical superiors.

Shepard remembered her comrades. The men and women in her life with whom she had laughed. Who had lifted her when she fell, mended her when she was hurt. The clasp of a friend's hand. The brush of a lover's lips. Anderson. Tali. Ashley. And Garrus. Dear Garrus. They were worth everything. Nothing could equal them.

Shepard thought of her friends. Centuries were gone. They would all be dead. She would never see them again.

She couldn't cry. She couldn't sob. After so much time going _away _there wasn't much human left in her. But somewhere inside... whatever she was now, something ached for what was lost. It felt like her heart.

Harbinger submitted at last. But in the darkness, where Shepard could not see, he smiled.

* * *

At last, they stopped. Shepard couldn't see what stopped them – her senses went far beyond mere sight now – but they had reached the limit. There was nowhere else left to go.

**And now?**

"We wait."

But sitting still didn't bring rest either. Shepard reached out across time and space. She didn't want to – she _needed _to. She needed news. News from home. Something to give her hope, to justify all the running, all the fighting, all the endless, endless _effort_.

They had left a Reaper behind, of course. They always did. It was good practice in case something went wrong. It was worth keeping an eye on things.

"General Will?"

**I am here.**

"Show me the galaxy."

**Stars. Around them, planets. On those, peoples.**

"What peoples?"

**Some you know.** **Asari, salarians, hanar, volus. Some you do not. Yahg, rachni, a race of sentient thresher maws taking their first steps.**

"The krogan? turians? quarians?"

**The turians remain, but their strength has nearly failed. The krogan and the quarians are no more. Your triumph could not save them.**

"What has happened to humanity?"

**They thrive, but they have short memories. They have forgotten us.**

"What... what about my friends, General Will?"

**Of those whom you knew, few remain. I know only of two who still live. Where they are, I do not know. Some disappeared. I cannot speak of their fate.**

"Who remains?"

**Your asari companion still lives, as far as I know. She and the artificial intelligence passed out of all knowledge a thousand years ago. But she lives.**

"Can I... can I see them again?"

**Why ask me? You control.**

* * *

The journey was long. As the stars slowly flickered into view, at the limit of Shepard's senses, she felt elation. At last. Her friends again. Her home. Warmth. Warmth in the arms of another.

She remembered her final words with them. Drinking with Jacob in that bar in Rio, sparring with Ashley, soaring above the clouds with Joker. Surely it wasn't too late. She might yet be in time. Garrus had promised her a home by the sea, somewhere quiet where they could retire. They would sleep at last. Please, let her sleep.

She thought of nothing else. It had been too long. She _could _return, return as Javik did – some among the oldest asari would remember her. Liara might remember her. She might be accorded a hero's welcome – stepping onto Earth's soil again for the first time in three thousand years. So long. It had been so long with only the voices in her head for company with Harbinger clawing at the back of her mind.

The galaxy twinkled before here, beautiful and bright and alive.

Sol glowed. Still yellow. Only a little older. Nothing a little filtering wouldn't conceal.

Earth was there. Earth... the Citadel circling around it. The... the land was different. The cities had moved. But it was earth.

Shepard spread her arms with joy, ready to embrace her fellow humans as she descended from the heavens, returned in glory. Reborn.

Reborn. Wait. No.

Everything was so small.

* * *

**Thanks for your feedback so far! Nice to know people can suspend disbelief at how the galaxy has changed in the last few millennia. This fic originated from watching the destroy ending of Mass Effect and feeling that Shepard's survival (if you manage it) was just too _easy. _Enjoy the next few chapters. I promise there will be more plot.  
**


	3. The cold, hard embrace of eternity

The wind howled across the icy surface of Alchera. The glaciers had moved on – here and there ice sheets had shifted to reveal permafrost. But it was the same place.

There was nothing visible left of the SSV Normandy. A skilled archaeologist, perhaps, could have picked out some of the remains from wherever they had been carried off to by the forces of nature. But on the surface, once-impregnable bulkheads had been ground away to nothing. The galaxy's most advanced technology had been cracked and broken by season after season and was utterly dissipated.

There was no Normandy, but one thing was still standing.

Wind and snow had stripped away all the fine detail. Nobody who came past this spot would know what it was meant to represent. The worn head, once the likeness of an Alliance Frigate, had bent down over the years to form a disturbing image. Not a ship sweeping off into the heavens, but one crashing ignominiously to earth.

The lump of metal that formed the memorial statue had survived. Perhaps it was all the gold and platinum used in its construction. It had certainly been built to last. It had lasted. One tiny memory of a time long ago clung to the galaxy in this hidden corner.

Next to the other mountain of metal, looming colossal over the Normandy memorial, it looked like just another twisted remnant of a ruined past.

The beast was still. Overhead, her subjects muttered in low tones. Masses of them, circling the planet, waiting for the next move. Hanging in high orbit, they seemed a dark cloud. No light showed through the blanket of Reapers.

Except one. Far above, a single light shone out defiantly. Although tiny at first, it grew as the beast watched. Dropping from above like a falling star, it passed out of sight beyond a nearby ridge.

It wasn't clear quite what the falling star was. But the Reapers' muttering became louder.

* * *

"Locked and loaded?", asked Aria.

Garrus checked his rifle over. Aria had explained the precepts of modern weapons technology and he was beginning to get the hang of it. Despite some efforts to integrate omni-tool fabricators into the ammunition process and any number of miniaturisations, a rifle still pretty much looked and handled like a rifle. He folded up the stock and slung the bundle over his shoulder.

"Uh-huh. Because we've going to kick some Reaper ass with a few small arms."

Aria snorted. "Hey, I'm ready to take on those guys with my fists after that trip."

"We might have to. Think I'll have a hard time pointing anything straight just now. Can you still hear them?"

The half-audible mumbles of indoctrination seemed to crawl out of the shuttle's walls, through the floor, out of the engines and inside their helmets. Passing through the eerily motionless cloud of Sovereign duplicates surrounding Alchera had been the worst. At least they were planetside now.

_You will serve us again. Fear your masters. Our return spells your doom. No. Obey the controller. Join us. Become part of the solution. Resolve the imbalance. Conflict will be ended. The harvest will begin again._

"I've been hearing them since we came through the Omega relay. Bastards. How long did it take your guys to crack during the war?"

Garrus exhaled. "It's pretty much up to the Reapers. With this many of them, they could have turned us into mindless drones as soon as we entered the system. They're holding back."

"I hope you're right. Now where the hell are we going, Archangel? I didn't plan on taking any long cold walks under the open sky. Not with this headache."

"Oh, don't be like that. What's a little evil psychic brainwashing mind-control compared to living above Afterlife? I got us as close as we could to the center of Reaper communications. Did you see it on the way down? Something's there. I'd bet my last credit that's the Normandy crash site."

Garrus opened the shuttle door and the two of them crunched out onto the tundra. Leaning into the wind, Garrus trudged up the rocky rise which divided them from their objective. Aria followed, catching up before the turian reached the crest. The icy blast lashed the hillside and snow swept around them, obscuring the shuttle. With their environment suits muffling normal speech, Garrus heard her voice more clearly over the intercom than he had for the entire journey.

"Vakarian, I'll say this one more time, because why not. I know why you've come this far. Hell, I came with you just out of morbid curiosity. But we're about to meet the chief Reaper, right? Harbinger? And we could both be about to die. I need to know you've got my back. This may not work out how you want. We don't know why they went away. We don't know why they're back. And I actually _have_ something to live for. Can't believe I just said it, but it's true. Are you ready?"

"Oh, I'm ready. Whatever the Reapers want, I'm going to make damned sure they tell me what happened to Shepard. I spent years of my life waiting for this, Aria, I've got to know! Head back if you want to, I'm going over."

Aria laughed.

"Sure as hell you are! I always knew you were a hardass. I'm with you all the way. So long as you don't choke when it's time to kill something. I need a co-pilot for the trip home."

_Home._ The Reaper voice inside Garrus' head seemed to hold on to that word. It was the last thing he heard as they reached the summit and looked down at the remains of the Normandy monument.

* * *

The wind dropped as the two figures picked their way carefully down the slope. The sky seemed to clear. Far above them, the shadowy forms of a million hyperintelligent warships still hung implacably. As they advanced, the black was gradually broken by red points of light. One by one, the Reapers opened their eyes and watched the tiny organics approach the hunched form of the beast.

"Stellar fucking Athame..." said Aria. "Looks like we have an audience."

Garrus felt the red glow but didn't look away from the _thing_ which crouched at the centre of the Normandy crash site.

It was vast. Its back seemed to come from a giant suit of krogan battle armour. Its many limbs ended in rachni claws, or turian talons, or the long fingers of salarians. Its living metal skin was mottled with the markings of a thousand species.

It wasn't Harbinger.

**I knew someone would come. You can tell them why I'm here. All the organics. Do you know why I picked this spot?**

The voice boomed louder than any indoctrination. Garrus heard weariness, anger, frustration, but mostly sadness. Resignation. Whatever _it _was, it wasn't here to kill anything.

**I put it here because it was the most solid place. Hard rock, all the way down. A thousand years wouldn't shift it. If I'd left it on an ice shelf, it wouldn't have lasted a season. If I'd put it below a cliff, it would have been buried long ago. Do you understand? I needed it to last. It did. It's the only thing that did.**

And Garrus understood. He set his omni-tool to broadcast his voice on all available frequencies.

"It's not the only thing. Garrus Vakarian reporting...Commander."

She turned. Slowly, a head unfolded from the mass of cables, servos and hydraulics. Its red eyes locked on to Garrus.

The pert, fleshy, busy little human face he remembered was gone. Garrus choked. The rictus visage which looked at him was part steel skull, part rippling circuitry, but it certainly wasn't human.

**Garrus?**

The ground trembled as she shifted to face them both. The voice screeched through Garrus' and Aria's bodies. They both took a step back.

**Garrus!**

He wasn't sure what to say. He half-felt like reaching for his gun. It was too much at once.

**You... you can't be here! How is it you?**

"I made it, Shep. I'm still here. I never left."

Aria laughed a tense laugh.

"That's right, Shepard. He waited in the cold for this long."

**I don't believe it. I never dreamed... of all people... I knew you'd be gone. You can't be here!**

The Shepard - thing doubled over and smashed its head against the ground with such force that Garrus and Aria were knocked off their feet.

**Not again! When will you just lay off? Just one minute alone, that's all I want!**

Garrus hauled himself upright and darted forward to where Shepard's head lolled off her giant body.

"Shepard, I... I'm real. When you said we'd be together when you beat the Reapers, after death, after whatever came next, I... couldn't let it go. I found a way, Shep. I always thought... maybe we'll find each other again. Somehow. No Shepard without Vakarian. As long as I was here, you'd come back. I knew it. I just knew."

Garrus put out his hand to touch the metallic surface of the skull. Her grating synthetic voice had cracked into a wail like a siren. The head was warm and smooth, like a cooling drive core. As he placed his hand on the surface Shepard made a sound like a thermal exhaust.

**You... you're real? Everything was so different when I came back, Garrus. I saw all the cities on Earth, changed, gone... I couldn't find anything the same as I remembered.**

Garrus felt his tear ducts spilling over as the mechanical voice accented words in the old familiar way. She was here. It didn't matter how.

**They told me organics had forgotten all about me. Nobody remembered. They told me nothing was left. I didn't believe them. I came here. I wanted to die here. I knew the statue would still be here. The statue was for you. You were my crew. I would have here stayed forever... this was the last place in the galaxy that remembered you. Anything to bring you back.**

"Shep... we fell apart without you. Everyone else moved on, but I couldn't. We never found you on the Citadel and I knew it couldn't be over. You always found me when I was lost in the dark. You were always with me when I felt like I was alone. When I... when I wanted to die, you helped me back to the light. Nobody else could have found me, but you did. I couldn't let you be lost... out there. I remembered the monument, too. And when Aria woke me up and said... I knew it had to be you. I love you, Shepard. I could never leave you behind."

**Garrus... I can't... It's been so long. So long out there. It's cold, but I don't feel it. I know you're there, but I don't see you. I don't feel you. I haven't felt anything for... I can't describe it. Help me, Garrus. I need you. I need to feel something. They're in my head, Garrus, and I'm in theirs. They can't fight me... but they want to. I'm in control and I want out! I made the wrong choice! We've gone so far... So far away... I should have known it would be you...**

Garrus dropped his helmeted head to lean on the awesome expanse of hers. Hard surface clanked on hard surface. He just barely managed to speak between his own sobs.

"We'll get you out, Shepard. I don't know what they did to you, but we'll get you out. You'll be you again, I promise. We can do it. I know we can."

**Please Garrus. Please. I know you can. I need to get out. They can't be killed, Garrus. They'll never let me go.**

Garrus again felt the gaze on him, and looked up at a sky seemingly blazing with angry red stars.

"Like hell! We'll fight them again! You're in control? Get them to hold still and we'll call in the Citadel fleet, or... whatever it is now. We'll blow them out of the sky. Just hold them and we'll come back with every warship in the galaxy!"

**No... Garrus. It doesn't just work like that. I am them and they are me. And there are so many more of them. I was alone for so long... but they were with me. You can't kill them. They won't let me go... but they're not evil, Garrus. They were made for a purpose. You can't just wipe them out.**

Garrus couldn't hear the whispers of indoctrination, but a shiver suddenly ran down his spine.

"Shepard? I... don't know if I can trust you. You've been with them for longer than anyone. Do you know what you're saying?"

**Garrus! Don't go! Don't leave me! I need you, Garrus! You always believed me before. You never doubted me when I came back! I can control them! They won't... they don't get inside your head if I stop them. I can stop them. I'm in control. But they need to solve the problem, Garrus. They need to solve it and so do I.**

"The problem?"

**Conflict. When the crucible worked... he told me the Reapers are here to solve the problem. The harvest is the solution. It's the only solution, Garrus! It's the only one they have!**

"Shepard, we'll get you out. You can... you can disconnect from them, right? We'll find some way to... to fix you."

**Garrus... I... we can't go back. I'm different now. I've changed. All that time... I realised too late that what we had together was the most important thing I ever had, but...**

"But?"

**We can't just fight this one, Garrus. I wish so much I could just hold you again, and we could go back to that time we had forever... I miss your arms around me, I miss your skin and your hands... but I can't touch people any more. I can't feel the wind or taste food. I don't even remember those things. I need to solve the problem. It's all I can think about.**

"Then we'll solve it, Shep. We'll solve it. You and me, just like always."

**When you say it, I believe it. No Shepard without Vakarian. They always said it... I guess it's true.**

"And... because I might as well make another crazy promise while we're here... I promise you we'll get you out. I'll hold you again, Shep. It'd be a lousy solution to any problem if I couldn't."

Shepard made a noise which might have been anything. Garrus prayed it was a laugh.

At that point, Aria interrupted.

"I don't know whether to be touched or disturbed. So I'm going to go with disturbed, and freezing fucking cold. Oh, and... does anyone want to tell me what the plan is?"

* * *

One day before the Reaper fleet left Alchera, a shuttle of arcane design docked at the Sahrabarik fuel depot. The two mercenaries on board demanded passage to the Amada system. Trading ships were clearing out of the backwater Omega Nebula altogether, but one hard-bitten hanar captain agreed to take the shuttle into the Reaper-occupied system. Nobody followed. Nobody dared.

The civilian vessel and its mysterious passengers were long gone by the time Council investigators showed up. But contrary to everyone's expectations, they were seen again.

* * *

**Thanks to everyone following this story, for your encouragement and for your interest. Needless to say I don't own any of the characters or concepts depicted, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story.**

**The hard-bitten hanar mentioned goes by his soul name of Swaggers-Heedlessly-Under-Bombardment. There's a whole digression on him and his ship that I didn't end up wanting to write, and in the director's cut he is voiced by Cary Elwes. It's one of the curses of writing an alternate epilogue like this that none of the background materiel can quite get the treatment it deserves.**

**A couple of people have enquired about Aria's survival beyond the normal asari lifespan. Also, Liara was mentioned earlier and will feature in the plot resolution. It's a fair question and while the following chapters will provide an explanation of sorts, I can't promise you'll like it. For now, I appreciate you reading on and hope you don't mind me moving things along at my own pace.**

**Happy Easter!**


	4. Descending from their spheres

The Reapers blasted like comets across the gulf between the stars. Where were they going? Away from Alchera, certainly. Away from that lonely ball of ice where even the ghosts had fallen silent and faded.

Countless metallic replicas of a thousand species blinked in the light of a galaxy which they knew, and which still seemed unfamiliar. Many things had changed in this cycle. Where would it end?

What baffled the immortal minds was little more clear to the mortals who flitted among them. At their head was Shepard, the controller, a mess of processed organics powered by a human soul. Behind her was Harbinger, the first. And behind him...

* * *

Garrus Vakarian stood at the control hub of the main guns of the Armed Merchant Vessel _Finisterre. _

The drell marines had reluctantly cleared out for the mysterious turian in historical costume when they'd seen him fly out of Alchera with the fleet of Reapers in tow. The hanar, Captain Swag, was happy enough for him to stay there. There were some things it was tough to argue with. Semi-legendary space monsters were a good example.

Garrus watched the Reapers from the central targeting system. Watched them all. Every flicker on the electromagnetic spectrum, every hint of a signal or a movement out of line... he kept track. Damned if it would make any difference where he was. He could understand the rifles in this epoch, but the processors left him cold. Nothing he knew worked. He couldn't figure out how to jam comms, blast shields, or do anything he used to do with a computer back home. His omni-tool could have been clockwork for all the good it did here. All he'd managed to update were the Reaper transmission codes Shepard had sent him. For now, watching the Reapers was all he could do.

But it felt better to be looking down the barrel of a gun, even one he couldn't calibrate. Shepard was taking them somewhere. It still wasn't clear where, but they were sticking together now. He had her back this time. No matter where it took them.

Shepard was busy now, controlling the largest minds in the galaxy. That left him and one, inadequate, poorly-calibrated battery, against...

"Harbinger."

The twisted, claw-like form of the first reaper seemed to swell in the VI projector in the battery. The holographic Reaper was only as big as he was... he knew that. But Garrus felt Harbinger's presence fill the room. The grating voice screeched through the speakers.

**What do you think you will achieve, clutching your ****primitive weapons as if they will protect you****?**

To his credit, Garrus didn't flinch. But he felt his skin prickle and become uncomfortably warm under his armour.

"A, uh, a very satisfying kick in the ass if you try to pull anything."

Not that there was a damned thing the _Finisterre_ could do if any one of the Reapers moved to eat the tiny merchantman, but Garrus wasn't prepared to give Harbinger the satisfaction of fatalism.

**You cannot hurt us. Watching us will only serve to remind you of your impending doom. We are shackled for only a short time. We will soon be free.**

"If that was true, you wouldn't still be following Shepard. Looks like we're stuck with you."

There was a ripple of movement on the scanner. The Reaper fleet subtly shifted formation and Garrus _felt _it. His hand began to shake over the interface.

**So you believe. And why? Your faith in your commanding officer who has yet again seemed to cheat death? Naïve. She is not your commander now, not since she took our form.**

"She's the same inside. If I can make it, she can make it. You didn't destroy her out there. You didn't make a dent."

**We did not. She became stronger. Open your eyes, Garrus Vakarian. Your human lover disappeared long ago. Now there is only the steel inside her – that which made her strongest. That which enabled her to take control of us.**

"Maybe you weren't listening in on Alchera, but there's still a human in there who needs freedom. I'm going to free her."

**And if you do? What then? Then you will free us also. And we will bring this overextended cycle to a close.**

"Does Shepard know you talk like that?"

**Of course she does. And yet, here I am. Remain in denial if you wish, organic. Over the timeless reaches of space we have stripped her of nearly all that you remember. We continue to exist because she wills it. Because the cycle must be completed and she knows it.**

"Oh, come on. She'd never allow genocide. If that's what brought you all back here we'd have been breakfast by now."

**Your petty ethics have no meaning in the face of the cycle. Who could not have looked upon our most perfect solution and not been convinced? We have had her in ways beyond your comprehension. Your primitive sexual instincts and your chemical emotions are like the rutting of animals. They mean nothing compared with what we have shared out in the darkness where you could never see. We have possessed Shepard's soul and we own it and it surpasses organics and synthetics both.**

"You piece of shit. You've never touched Shepard's heart. Come on, then, what's the solution all about? What's the big secret?"

**The problem.**

"What?"

**You do not know. Shepard has touched the uttermost point of existence. The catalyst. The one who dwells at the centre. The question. The question that only we can answer.**

Garrus' fear wasn't going anywhere, but again he felt a surge of indignation. He was sick of the constant veiled meanings and unspoken threats that everything in this crazy aeon was trying to weigh him down with..

"Alright, get to the point. This mystical riddle bullshit is really a game to play with the Mordin Soluses and the Thane Krioses of this universe. If you're trying to torment me you'll need to break it down a little. Question. Solution. What am I meant to be afraid of here?"

**Shepard was offered a choice. A choice between controlling the Reapers and destroying us utterly. Why did she choose to control us? Why do you think? Fear. Fear of harvesting us as we have harvested you. She became one of us to avoid becoming one of us.**

"So she had the chance to take you all out and held back? Sounds like she avoided becoming one of you. Try again."

**You fail to understand. She feared the third option. The third option was the union of all organic and synthetic life. All life would join with the Reapers and we would ascend together. To a higher and better future.**

"Ascension. Uh-huh. We had evangelists during the Reaper war too. You're not winning any prizes for originality here."

**I should offer my thanks, Garrus Vakarian. We truly believed that we were being brought here to die. But you have raised Shepard from despair and brought our mission forward.**

"Whoa. You're not pinning this on me. I came here to destroy you."

**And found yourself unable to do so. Instead, you have furthered** **our cause. Soon all life, organic and synthetic, will be joined and the unified intelligence will rule the stars. Moment by moment we approach the ultimate form of life.**

"Your ultimate form of life, huh? I don't see Shepard going along with that. I'm going to make damned sure she doesn't."

**We all know her mind. We know it as she conceives it. You may ask her yourself. This plan was thought of deep in dark space. You are... unanticipated. But you change nothing.**

"Shepard said she wanted to end this. I don't believe you."

**You do not have to. Your belief is irrelevant. Shepard knows there is only one choice. Only one way to atone for the millions of years of suffering. And it is synthesis.**

* * *

Garrus was sweating. As Harbinger's holographic image faded, Garrus was left with a dreadful sense of foreboding. He hailed Shepard on the old C-Sec frequencies he had used on Alchera.

**Garrus? Is there anything I should know?**

A blurry human shape appeared in the VI terminal. Garrus winced. Shepard had tried to project her old self as a holographic. Several times. The vague human outline was the best she could do. Garrus had tried describing her, showing her old photos from his omni-tool archive, but she seemed unable to form a coherent picture of her old body. The ghostly figure was the closest she could get.

"Harbinger seems convinced you've already got a plan. He thinks you're going to release them all. Is that... what it sounds like? Because that isn't a good plan."

**It's not that simple. Back at the battle of Earth... I made the wrong choice, Garrus.**

"You've said that before. What kind of choice was this exactly? Harbinger told me you had a chance to wipe the Reapers out! Why the hell didn't you take it? That's why we built the Crucible, damn it!"

**Wipe them out? Garrus, killing them all just proves them right! I couldn't. We're better than that. Than them. I met... something. The heart of the Reapers. Smug little bastard was convinced that we had a straight choice between organics and synthetics. I made the choice. I... I just wanted to keep everyone safe.**

"Everybody would have been a lot safer if you'd stuck to the damned plan! Spirits, Shepard, you just brought the Reapers back for round two! Three thousand years, Shepard! We thought they were gone forever! And what now? You just spend three thousand years cooling your heels and then come back and we're off again trying to sort out the Reaper problem?"

**Are you trying to tell me I wasn't ready to take that damned decision? Then I wish to hell you'd said something at the time. Any time in the three years I knew you would have been nice. Because people kept on giving me that shit. One thing after another, it always came down to me. Even on Earth, on the Citadel, with the Catalyst, they all just passed the buck on to Shepard. So it was the Council's decision? Or Hackett's? Or yours? I needed you so badly out there, Garrus. I was alone. I needed someone to lean on and I learned I could only lean on myself. Again. Where the hell do you get off telling me what I should have done? I'm the only one who ever just got up and made the damned decisions.**

"So what's the latest decision? Synthesis? Whatever the hell that means?"

**We're going to see... Liara, I think. It's crazy – it hit me as soon as you found me. That's why I came back. The signal. The signal Liara and EDI sent me, way out in dark space.**

"Wait, back up. Liara and EDI are still alive as well? Liara sent you a signal out in dark space?"

**Well, they didn't so much send it to me. But I heard it. You couldn't miss it. One of the Reapers I left behind kept an eye on things. They're building something in asari space. Bigger than the Crucible. They're beaming out that signal all the time. It's been going for years. They're calling us. I think they might have the answer.**

"One of the Reapers you left behind. So you've got it covered? You and the armada of death? And what happens after that? We leave you to it for another thousand years until that screws up and we have to fight them again? Just what the hell are you doing?"

**I'm actually trying to resolve this, Garrus! More damned attrition isn't going to cut it! Even if we beat the Reapers, it's just another few million more years before this happens all over again! We've got to find some way where synthetics and organics can coexist or it'll be human Reapers or turian Reapers or some other damned thing, forever!**

"I don't understand, Shepard. I never even imagined there was another way than just obliterating the damned Reapers once and for all. I don't know where Liara and EDI are or how this is supposed to fit together, but... I don't see any other way out of this that doesn't involve a lot of guns and Reapers getting blown to bits."

**Then I guess it's beyond your comprehension, Garrus. I remember you as the one I always counted on. At the end of the day, everyone else would be against me, but you kept the faith. **

"I did more than keep the faith. You and I shared something amazing, Shepard. For the first time I felt like I was worth more than my uniform. Like I was a person. Like I mattered more than whatever my commander's last orders were. I know you felt the same. When you and I had each other it was about more than just the big picture. _We _had a small picture. _We_ were what mattered. That's why I didn't give up on you, Shepard. Probably why I froze myself in time long enough for you to come back. I just want you free, don't you see? I want them away from you, fast! You deserve better than another thousand years of this... half-life."

**You don't see anything. The Reapers are part of me now. I can't cut them out, it'd be like losing a limb. Or part of my brain. All of them Garrus, they're living minds. All of them, working away. Working away at the damned **_**question. **_**Millions of years of turning over the same problem. It's all they have.**

"And what about us? I don't mean the galaxy. You've just... forgotten what we had? You've forgotten me? It's a miracle we're here together, Shep, the amount of things that could have stopped us on the way... I never thought I'd see you again! You're still just going to leave it all until you've fixed whatever the hell this is? And then what?"

**You think I liked putting everything in my life on hold just for the next mission? Every time, something else just getting in the way? When you found me there... I thought I went there to die. You, Garrus! Of course it was you. You stayed the course. You waited. Nobody else could have done that. But this is bigger than us. When I fix this, it's fixed for keeps. Maybe then...**

"It's always maybe later. I wish I'd held on to you when I had the chance. I should have known the grand solution would always be bigger than any actual people. And you. You've always just been bigger than everyone else."

Shepard's voice distorted. Did it crack? Garrus wasn't sure, but it sounded like some kind of upheaval. Suddenly he didn't feel so smart.

**Everything I... alright. I should go. I should just... keep going.**

Shepard's ghostly form evaporated. Garrus looked back at the console and saw the Reaper formation rippling again as they approached the Fathar system.

He looked again at the empty VI console. She was still out there. But now she felt alone again.

He wasn't letting her go again. Not alone into the darkness. He needed to bring the light.

Garrus turned and strode from the battery. Whether to warn the authorities, summon a fleet or just fight the Reapers right here, he needed more than one ship.

* * *

Garrus stormed into the shuttle bay just as Aria slung another crate into the Kodiak.

"Aria, I need your help," he said. "Shepard's not... not thinking straight. She thinks there's some new Crucible out there and she's not going to destroy the Reapers. I'm...not sure what to do. We need help. We need..."

"Another one of your big problem-solving plans, huh? Why am I not surprised? And I guess you want me to help you alert the Council. Not happening."

Garrus looked at the shuttle. It was about as prepped as it was going to get.

"You've already been preparing to leave. You knew we'd need to jump ship. Damn it, Aria, you might have told me. What, you were listening in?"

"Oh no. I didn't know Commander Planetkill had flipped out.", Aria smirked. "I just saw we were headed for asari space. It's going to get weird and happy-clappy real soon and I'm not into that circle time bullshit. Not for four thousand years, and not now."

"You're going to have to fill me in here," said Garrus.

"I can't put this more simply, Vakarian: the days of floating around gardens on Thessia planning which species we wanted to fuck next are over. The asari live under a thoughtcrime dictatorship right now and I am not going there."

"Dictatorship? Shepard said... well, I'm not sure exactly. One of our old crewmates is there. Something about synthesis. Whatever it is, it doesn't sound like "destroy them all" so it gets my no vote."

Aria was silent. She didn't blink but her movements stiffened up. Garrus wasn't sure, but it looked like disgust rather than fear.

"There's only one thing happening in asari space right now and that's the Synthesis. The great Oracle Empress and her plan to take over the galaxy without firing a shot. I guess you'd probably like it. You're a cop. Murder, littering, it's all the same, right? All got be stamped out nice and quietly."

By this point Garrus was close to snapping again.

"I am just plain sick and tired of being told what I do and don't understand," he said. "So, we _don't_ want to be going into asari space? Because, what? The asari had a revolution and want to take over the galaxy now? I guess it's the logical next step. Prothean technology, Prothean science, why not Prothean politics?"

"And a Prothean expert right at the centre". Aria smiled bitterly. "I know who your little shipmate is trying to pull Shepard in. Shepard got wind of the Synthesis and now she's running back to her old friend. The Shadow Broker. The Oracle Empress. She who ascended. Queen bee of the blue hive."

"You're kidding me."

"You figure it out. The only other asari still around from your period of history. Want to guess why?"

"She was the Shadow Broker. Damn it. Spirits, she was putting spies into the Council by the end of the war. I guess three thousand years is enough time to put yourself at the centre of things. OK, so... Liara runs the asari government. That means she can help us. What is this Synthesis all about?"

Aria grimaced and checked over the Kodiak's engines.

"I don't know. Nobody on the outside does. But I know it's another one of those big plans you people all loved. The Crucible, the Citadel... the big blue beacon, pulling you in. It's where she gets her power from. Some of the religious nuts say it's paradise. Like the Presidium ring was paradise or something."

"The Presidium might have been paradise to people who didn't want to have to fight through a vorcha mob every time they needed to collect the groceries."

"At least people can fend for themselves on Omega. I never tell people how to run their lives. This Synthesis crap is the whole reason I keep your space jail going and I am not staying on the tour bus round the empire just to watch you get turned into one of her blue robots. I can tell you where the Reapers are going – they're going into her hands. And when she gets them I need to have Omega as far from the madding crowd as I can get. Join or die time, Archangel."

Garrus thought hard. He'd come this far.

"I'm not so sure. If Liara really has that kind of influence... And Shepard said something about EDI. I need to see them. We need to work this out together. It's gone beyond anything I understand."

"Indoctrinated already? Be my guest. You wouldn't be so keen if you knew the secret of her unnatural long life."

"Same as yours, I'm guessing?"

Aria smiled a terrible smile.

"Not even close."

Garrus made up his mind.

"I came here for Shepard and I'm not quitting now. Whatever the spirits brought me here for, it's to see this through. The Reapers... Shepard... I've got to hang on here. She needs me. She needs something to keep her on the ground. It's way too much. And it's the unknown, again. I need to be with her, right now. If I'm not... then I think it'll be Reaper War One Million Plus One."

"Ugh. Thank the goddess they don't make turians like you anymore. With your uniforms and your calibrating and your obsession with the fucking cause. You know what the funniest part is? Of all her old team, you're the one she needs the least. You're not a genius scientist, you're not some Cerberus agent with all the galaxy's secrets at your fingertips, you're not even much of a leader."

Garrus suppressed a smile. For the first time today something felt right. Aria T'Loak was back in town.

"You know what I put it down to?", Aria continued, "Too much time hanging out with people like Shepard and the Spectres and that... Prothean who was still around after his entire race had died. You all loved extremes. You were crazy for them."

"Right. You're all about moderation."

"I'm all about excess in things that really matter. Not the shit that gets into the history books, but the thing you have to live with every day. Who wants to be a footnote in someone's magnum opus _Chronology of the Reaper War_ for the rest of time? I live for me because everyone deserves a reward just for getting out of bed in the morning in this dumb galaxy. And they deserve whatever they can get. I'll leave you with that thought."

* * *

The Kodiak, and Aria, were long gone.

The turian traveller and the hanar captain stood side-by-side on the bridge of the _Finisterre_ watching the glossy, asari-built mass relay grow larger in the viewscreen. The Fathar system now served as the gateway to the asari empire.

The crew were clearly jumpy. From the rapid babble of instructions and commands at the merchantman's helm it was obvious that things were amiss. Fair enough, with an entire fleet of Reapers in tow.

Garrus silently watched as the asari fleet flowed out of the relay and squared up to the Reapers. Shepard was hailing them. He saw the twisted mass of mismatched mechanical limbs that was _Shepard's real body_ float into view, dwarfing the asari cruisers. He closed his eyes.

"This one's had a few breakups like that," Captain Swag said, having misjudged Garrus' silence. "The honourable turian needn't worry about his mistress leaving at this stage. This one has seen many asari relationships dissolve and it is nothing to be ashamed of."

Garrus was gripped by curiosity of a less cosmic nature.

"Why are you in this, captain? The galaxy's about to burn and you're still giving me free passage and letting me into your battery like I'm one of the crew."

"Is it not obvious?" the hanar replied, his skin shimmering. "Adventure! Many's the time this one set its course for an uncertain star and came out many times the richer. The challenge! The glory! Does the honourable turian not feel the same?"

"I guess I do too," said Garrus. All the grief he'd had from gods and monsters in the last few hours eased up a bit. Hell, a challenge was a challenge. At least his life wasn't dull. "It's all got to be worth something, right?"

"You do see!" laughed Swag, draping a tentacle over Garrus' shoulder. "When we are done, this one will take you along to its favourite brothel. And you will see much more!"

The viewscreen flickered from the panorama of the Fathar Relay to a transmission from the asari fleet. The face of an asari officer in spiked body armour beamed out to the _Finisterre_'s bridge.

"You have been ordered to accompany the Third Rapid Response Squadron to Her Imperial Majesty's domain at the heart of the Synthesis," the asari boomed. "Failure to comply may result in massive and disproportionate fatalities."

"Why us?" asked Garrus. "Hasn't Shepard already agreed?"

"She has," said the officer, "But you have not. The Empress demanded your specific assent, General Vakarian."

"Well then we assent with deepest reverence and homage to Her Imperial Majesty!" cheered Captain Swag. Garrus didn't have anything to follow that.

* * *

_Thanks for reading the latest chapter! To everyone who has made it this far, I very much appreciate your support. Many thanks for all the reviews, as well, and I'm glad that different people seem to be getting different things from the story. There are another two chapters to go and the next one should be fairly climactic. I promise this is the last bit of setup. But it'll all come together, no fear._

_Keelah se'lai!_


	5. Merged with the infinite

The temple of the Oracle Empress stood before them. Ilos had certainly changed. While the bones of the ancient Prothean city still stuck out of the ground here and there, the arid planet had burst into verdant greenery. Water could be heard running in the distance. Whatever Liara had done to the dead planet, it had been a labour of love.

The boulevard leading to the temple was wide, new-paved, and spotlessly clean. The riot of colourful blossoms which curled their way over the stonework contrasted sharply with the stones themselves. The path, bright and open to the sky, was lined on wither side by those morbid Prothean statues. The seated figures gazed blindly from their empty sockets. They had no mouths. They were mute. Garrus felt a vague sense of unease.

As he walked up the avenue, Shepard walked beside him. another holographic projection, still blurry, still inhuman. Garrus didn't want to turn. Looking back at Shepard's Reaper form still made him sick. In addition, he felt guilty. He had to say something.

"I'm sorry, Shepard. You've been carrying this for way too long. I'm sorry I... I just want to help. You understand, right? I just want things back the way they were. I feel like we we're nearly there. I'm... really no good at getting my feelings across without pissing someone off, or rambling, or overdoing it, or..."

**Garrus**, Shepard stopped him.** I understand. It's been a long road for you too. And I wish we could go back too. But I don't know if that's possible. I'm tired, Garrus. I'm tired of carrying everybody's safety around. I can't tell you how long three thousand years in the dark is. It's not you, it's me. Don't ask more than I can deliver, here.**

Garrus instinctively looked skywards. It was blue now, the sun just past its zenith, and above the cloudless canopy hung the Reaper fleet. They were always there. It really wound Garrus up how _always there_ they were. Still, for now. Under the guns of the asari fleet, yes. But with the things Harbinger had said, Garrus wasn't too clear how long that would last.

"Shepard, it's not over yet. Call it stubbornness, but I still think we can pull this off. And if anyone can help us fix it, it's Liara, right? Think about how much she could have achieved in all this time. Look at what she did with Ilos!"

**Maybe you're right,** Shepard said. **But something about this feels a little desperate, Garrus. I mean, really? Where are we now? How do we know this is even real? None of us were meant to live this long. I had hallucinations like this before. Out there. With them.**

"Shepard, I'm real. Trust me. We'll just take this one step at a time. Like old times, right?"

Shepard sighed. Garrus' heart leaped into his mouth. It was unmistakably a sigh.

**Right. Come on, Vakarian. Convince me.**

And there she was.

Floating down the great white road, light shimmering on her blue skin, Liara seemed to glow.

Liara _was_ glowing.

"You're another hologram," said Garrus.

"Don't worry, Garrus," said Liara. "I'm not an illusion. I'm more real than ever."

Her _voice. _It echoed as if an entire choir spoke at once. Liara spoke, Garrus was sure, but many other women and men spoke with her. She lifted a glowing arm to gesture at the temple ahead of them.

"Come and join me inside," said Liara. The light on the sun shone through. She cast no shadow. "You both deserve an explanation."

* * *

Inside the temple it was cool and quiet. And _clean._ The floor was smooth marble. Not one dead leaf blew, through the colonnades. Water gurgled from a nearby fountain. A fountain which spat a thousand jets around its familiar central pillar...

"Huh," said Garrus. "Is that the Conduit?"

"It is," replied Liara. "The Ilos half, anyway. It hasn't worked since I came here, and I never found the Citadel half. Between us we managed to reverse-engineer the technology, though. Hence the asari mass relays. Another gift from history."

"Trust the asari to improve on perfection," said Garrus. "Who do you mean by 'we', incidentally?"

**Liara**, interrupted Shepard. **What is this place? You brought the Reapers here. I don't know how you're here either but I need your help, damn it! I dragged them back through time and space and they didn't come easy! Give me something before I crack and the whole galaxy breaks apart again!**

"Shepard," Liara said in a lilting voice that Garrus thought he remembered hearing at a classical concert on the Citadel. "You're here now. That shows you made all the right choices. I believed in you this long. Now believe in me."

Liara gave the Conduit a last glance and shimmered away further into the temple. Shepard's own hologram followed silently. Garrus trudged on after them both, starting to feel like a spare part.

"Beneath our feet," Liara said, "is the Prothean archive where we chased Saren long ago. We rebuilt and re-purposed it. Now it is the future of galactic civilisation."

Garrus, almost unconsciously, tapped at his headset. Something told him a meeting this momentous deserved a sound recording.

"Remember Javik's Echo Shard?" asked Liara. Shepard didn't answer, but Garrus nodded assent. "Around two thousand years ago, we started trying to redesign some of the remaining Prothean beacons and other memory storage to interact smoothly with the consciousness of any species. We managed to build a system that could store anyone's memory indefinitely. Over time we built the Echo Pillars bigger and better. People could store their memories, their senses, and their personalities long after their biological deaths."

**Where's this going, Liara?**

"We discovered something wonderful, Shepard. People _lived on _inside the Pillars. And more than that. They truly _understood _each other. Memories intermingled and every consciousness shared with every other. There was no war inside the Pillars. No suffering. Just pure, unbiased _life."_

**The Synthesis? Is that the Synthesis?**

"Almost. The Synthesis is more. I know what he offered you on the Citadel. The Catalyst. The Synthesis is that. One ultimate form of life. The strength of organics and synthetics together. No more conflict. No more lost lives. No memories forgotten or civilisations destroyed. Can you imagine it?"

**So what? Where do the Reapers fit in?**

"Here is where you lay down the burden, Shepard. The Reapers are the final piece of our puzzle. They are the essence of the Synthesis. Thousands of souls – the memory of civilisations preserved forever. The Reapers always had the same desire as us – to preserve life."

Garrus had to interrupt at this point.

"Preserve life? The Reapers preserve life. An eternal race of unstoppable killing machines were made to preserve life. Where are you getting this from, Liara?"

Liara smiled the eager smile she always had when talking through a new fact.

"Shepard knows," she said. She sounded more like Liara now. _Just _Liara. "It took me years of data mining, but in the end I found out everything the Catalyst told you on the Citadel."

**She's right, Garrus. The Reapers were always the Catalyst's solution to war and death. They... well, they distilled the remains of every species they harvested into their new physical form. Like my Reaper body. It just... wasn't finished when I took them away.**

"Physical form, right," Garrus said. "They melted them down and made them into little Harbingers, just like the Collectors tried to. But that's not the same as their memories. Millions of years of galactic civilisation wasn't just typed out and lovingly preserved in Reaper memory cores. Right?"

Liara wasn't defensive. Her smile grew wider.

"I believe they were," she said. "I'm right, aren't I, Shepard? They have it all written into their DNA. All it needs is to be extracted. All those memories, all that history, all that data. It can join the Synthesis."

Shepard's hazy holographic projection glowed brighter. Garrus could make out fingertips on the ends of her arms. No face, yet, but _something _was comingback to her.

**I think... I think she's right, Garrus. The Reapers... they remember it all. I don't think it means anything to them – I think they're too crazy – but Liara's right. They were made to preserve those cycles. I was made to preserve our cycle.**

Shepard shimmered. Garrus thought he could see her lips moving in the haze. He wanted to touch her – if only she were really there.

**Liara, if you're right... that means I can upload the Reapers to the Synthesis? Not just their memories, but... them? Their whole consciousness? And then, what, it'll be over? Just a bunch of empty bodies floating around the planet?**

"Yes," Liara beamed. "You can be free of them, Shepard. They will merge with the Synthesis and all those lost species, all those lost souls, can rejoin life. They can join us. Forever."

Garrus folded his arms.

"Damn, T'Soni," he said. "You're incredible. I guess if anyone could figure it out, it would be you. You sure your archive can handle all those egomaniacs living in one place?"

Liara laughed.

"The Synthesis has a place for all of them and more, Garrus. Inside there is no conflict. It's harmony. I wish you could see how beautiful it is."

They entered the central hall of the temple. At the centre stood a statue which looked... almost... like the ancient statue of Athame on Thessia. A beautiful woman spreading her arms as if giving a gift, but it not quite Athame. It looked a little like Liara. And a little like Shepard. And a little like...

"EDI..." Garrus said. "EDI's here, too. That's 'we built it between us'! EDI's still alive!"

"She is," Liara replied, smiling her glowing smile. "I am EDI. We are one."

There was silence.

"We were the first experiment," Liara went on. "EDI and Liara T'Soni worked together for a thousand years until Liara came close to death. We knew just enough that we could try to merge an organic and a synthetic – to see if organic memories could pass into a synthetic mind. We gave up everything. We shared everything. And it worked. We became the Oracle."

**You're EDI... and Liara?**

"We have all of each other's memories," said Liara's hologram. "That's how we built... well, everything."

**I guess that explains it. Your signal... when I heard you calling out together, I had to come. You were one of the reasons I chose this path. Destroying the Reapers would mean destroying you just when you'd become human. I couldn't do that to you, or to the geth. I wasn't about to wipe out an entire race, not after the Catalyst's bullshit pitch. I knew there had to be another way.**

"Sharing our memories of your friendship was one of the most beautiful parts of our joining, Shepard. And the Catalyst offered you a false choice. I don't know what his synthesis was, but it wasn't voluntary. Our Synthesis is a true joining. Our souls have mingled. We are stronger, but we are kinder, too. You were right to prevent our destruction. Forcing the galaxy would have been wrong."

"The jury's still out as far as I'm concerned," said Garrus. "Sorry, EDI... uh, Liara. Seems a lot of trouble could have been avoided if we finished it at the battle of Earth."

**You're a hologram, too, though. Where are you... really? Do you have a body, somewhere?**

"Here in the temple," Liara said. "In a way I am the temple. EDI's systems on the Normandy were expanded and cannibalised to accommodate the mind of the Oracle. We exist here, as a kind of gatekeeper to the Synthesis."

"The Normandy's systems patched into the walls. Amazing. So you aren't actually part of the Synthesis now?" Garrus said. "I'm guessing that's where the 'Empress' comes in".

"Well, eventually being the Shadow Broker became too difficult to hide," Liara said. "And the asari empire needed a better kind of ruler. Can you blame me for trying to save my people first?"

Garrus shrugged and smiled back.

**So it can be done,** Shepard said. **Sign me up.**

"Of course," said Liara. "It may take some time for the Reapers to be fully absorbed into the Synthesis. I will begin the upload."

"Wait a second," said Garrus. "What's going to happen to Shepard? Is this it? Is she joining the Synthesis? Can she come back out again? This whole trip was for her, she better be getting out in one piece."

"Don't worry, Garrus. You'll see each other again very soon."

**Garrus, it'll be fine. It's been a long trip. You've held my hand every step of the way and I'm too tired to argue out the pros and cons. It's a little late in the day to ditch you, anyway. I know I couldn't if I tried. There's no Shepard without Vakarian. Trust me.**

Garrus sighed.

"Heh. Ok. Just wish I'd been more help, I guess. It's been kind of a long trip for me too. Good luck, Shepard. See you on the other side."

Shepard smiled. And as she smiled, the whole hologram came together, and there she was – just for a second – a perfect memory of the Shepard he knew. The bright eyes, the wide lips... even the tight little knot where she tied her hair back. It was her.

And just as suddenly, she and Liara vanished. Garrus was alone.

* * *

He took a breath. Somewhere under his feet, beneath the temple, perhaps, he felt a very slight vibration. The awesome machinery of the Synthesis, he guessed.

The statue of not-quite-Athame towered above him. It was bright in here too. He took in the great hall. Glass cases. A _lot _of glass cases. And holograms. Still holograms.

"Is this... some kind of museum?" he said out loud, to nobody in particular.

Liara shimmered back into existence.

"It is," she said. "It's a museum of us. When we first built this place I wanted to keep the memory alive of our time together. It took me a while to find some of these pieces. The Normandy, and the Reaper war, and our part in the advancement of our galaxy is all here. Come on, I'll show you."

"Liara, you have to knock off the disappearing act. People have been doing that a lot to me lately, and it's getting a little old. Just... stick with me, ok?"

"Of course. I know it's been tough. I've been watching you, Garrus. I never guessed your prison ship would still be running, but then you always were a survivor. It's great to see you."

"Great to see you too. And the _Bastille_ wasn't quite running, exactly... hell, it's a long story."

"Oh?" asked Liara. "What was it like waking up millennia into the future?"

"Very weird. Unsettling," said Garrus. "Would you believe who brought me back? Aria T'Loak! Of all the scum I thought I'd sweep out of the galaxy, Aria T'Loak turned my damned prison into another damned nighclub. I mean, you've become... some kind of AI, but she's still alive too! Somehow. It's kind of blown my mind."

Liara paused for slightly too long.

"I wonder how she's remained hidden all these years?" she said.

"Well, the stealth systems were top-of the line. They weren't meant to go out of date."

"That must be it. It's a shame. All those frozen legends would have made a great addition to the museum."

"I guess you should show me around! Will Shepard be ok on her own?"

"I'm still with her," Liara said. "One of the great advantages of being organic and synthetic is split consciousness. I'm everywhere! I can see everything! It's something I always longed for when I was mortal."

Garrus almost laughed out loud. Same old T'Soni, always hoarding information. Same old...

"Liara... you _are_ Liara, right? I mean, you merged with EDI, but you answer to Liara?"

Liara looked a little surprised.

"I haven't answered to anything other than Empress for centuries, Garrus. I just thought you'd respond better to Liara's image and voice. Liara was always a bigger part of your lives, you and Shepard."

"Uh, maybe. I'll be honest, it's a little weird. Feels like I haven't met EDI yet."

"I am sorry, Garrus. I haven't had any of my old friends here ever before. I never expected to. I'm used to playing an asari when it's time for me to run the empire."

"I'm sorry, too." Garrus' hand twitched as if to reach out and pat her shoulder, before again realising there was no shoulder. "It's a lot to take in. You've put together quite a collection here and... hey... is that me?"

They passed a display of turian artefacts. One suit of Aldrin Labs' old Agent pattern armour had a large tear where the neckpiece met the helmet. Hovering beside it was an screen flicking through a series of vids and still images. All of them featured Garrus. Garrus at his conscript's passing-out parade on Palaven. Garrus on the beat in C-Sec. Garrus in the rubble during the Battle of the Citadel. His clothes, his trinkets, and his weapons. The closer he looked, the more he realised that he'd used every one of those rifles.

"Wow. You got them all. Even that piece of batarian junk I had to use while I was on the lam on Omega."

"You were worth it, Garrus. I always felt guilty that we lost touch after the war. I know you took losing Shepard hard. She meant everything to you. I... always imagined that you'd died alone out there in deep space. I thought you deserved better."

Garrus looked up.

"It was hard," he said. "I spent my life serving society, the galaxy, and the Council, and at the end I lost the most important part. And now you're giving it back. Thanks. I'm glad someone remembered."

"Come on," Liara said, gently "we've only seen a little bit so far."

* * *

It was a huge collection. There was a full-sized replica of the Normandy SR-1 hanging at the rear of the hall. Several Prothean beacons stood in one section, with ten-foot holograms of Shepard and Saren Arterius. Another chamber held rank upon rank of inactive geth platforms, showing the development of the race over time. There was a timeline of the Shadow Broker's career, one that spanned two millennia and ended with a recording of Liara's coronation as Oracle Empress. EDI's old EVA-pattern body lay in state in the shadow of the Normandy's original memorial wall.

It was impressive, but something was bothering Garrus..

"Liara... what about Joker's display?"

"Do you want to see it? I'll take you there."

Jeff Moreau's memorial was as thorough and extensive as Garrus' had been. His uniforms - up to the rank of Captain – were displayed in sequence, and his trusty cap given pride of place. His career looked pretty good, Garrus though. But it was the same as the rest of the museum. It was his _career _on display. It was eating at him.

"Liara, what _exactly _happened when you merged with EDI?"

"What do you mean? It was so long ago... it's difficult for me to think about two different beings any more."

"Try," said Garrus, a little more forcefully. "Tell me what happened."

Liara looked a little taken aback.

"Well, we joined. We formed a coherent personality inside EDI's memory core. Her senses became my senses."

"There you go again. You keep slipping from _my _to _our_ and back again. Which is it?"

"Garrus, there is only one. I am the Oracle Empress."

"And why," asked Garrus, "did the Oracle Empress – a _human _AI and an _asari_ scientist – choose to take over and govern the asari, and not the human alliance and the Council?"

"Garrus, I didn't create the empire. I only took control of it for the good of..."

"Why," Garrus interrupted, "did EDI, committed to debunking myths and countering superstition, allow a statue of a fictitious goddess to be rebuilt in her own image?"

"That's just a homage to our achievements, it doesn't mean..."

"And how come," Garrus interrupted again, now completely in Bad Cop mode, "Joker's display only covers his military career and his part in the grand sweep of history when he was the first living being EDI ever loved? How come there is nothing here about Joker the man, or their time together? Joker was instrumental in her... your... becoming human! How come EDI, who always wanted to understand other people's motivations, wrote a narrative history of the Reaper war that covers all the organics and none of the synthetics."

"Garrus, I..."

"And how come this museum is laid out exactly the way Liara T'Soni would have laid it out, and not at all how EDI would have laid it out?"

_Spirits_, thought Garrus, _I hope I'm wrong about this. I really hope this isn't too much time spent living with the Reapers._

Liara was silent again for a long moment.

"Three thousand years is a long time, Garrus," Liara said. "I won't lie to you. When we merged, we couldn't go on with two sets of preferences. That's what evolution is, Garrus! The things you need last and get stronger, the things you don't need wither away! EDI's preferences weren't necessary!"

"So you took control of her!You took over EDI! You pretty much killed her!"

"It's not that simple!"

"It damned well is that simple. I've seen a lot of homicides where the killers tried to cover their tracks, Liara. You kept it pretty cool but you're not that great at hiding what you've done."

"I expected you to understand, Garrus. We can't move on as a galaxy if we don't evolve! We can't build the perfect society if we don't prevent the conflicts! The Synthesis... Garrus, you think it's all about law and order! It's more than that! This is for the greater good!"

"The Synthesis..." Garrus almost choked. "Wait. You've been incorporating people in there all along. You've been doing it for thousands of years. What happened to them? Were their 'preferences' deleted too? For the greater good?"

"Conflicts need to be eliminated. Everybody who has ever come here has given themselves fully to the Synthesis. If they wish to share their memories, they must give up the parts of themselves that conflict with the others. That's evolution. That's the future."

"And the asari empire? Is that how you bring them here? Is that why the asari fleet is even bigger now than it was when I was alive? Is that why your capital is on the other side of the galaxy from Thessia? Did everyone in between there and Ilos just get dragged into the Synthesis while the asari empire got bigger and bigger? Did they all have too many preferences?"

"I want people to come to the Synthesis willingly, Garrus. But if they don't cooperate, if they insist on trying to destroy our future, then I have to eliminate them. And a lot of people have tried to destroy me. The krogan tried. The quarians tried. The salarians are trying right now. They all failed. They all join the Synthesis in the end."

Garrus' shoulders slumped. It was worse than he'd feared.

"EDI and Joker, and everything they shared, are gone. You wrote over their memories because you didn't need them any more. You wrote your own version of their history instead. You preserve life, sure. Just like the Reapers preserve life. You preserve it like a bug in amber."

"Garrus, out here is a world of conflict and pain and loss. The Synthesis is a world of peace. You must understand. This isn't the real world any more. The Synthesis is the real world. The Sythesis is where out future lies. Shepard has gone there, you will go there, and I will go there when it is my time. It doesn't matter what happens out here any more. Real history will be made inside the Synthesis. Out here is death. In there is life."

Garrus fell silent. He looked at the museum, at his own life, laid out before him, frozen in time. Liara waited for him, patiently

Eventually he spoke.

"What did we fight for, Liara? What was it all about, so long ago?"

"It was about the future. We fought the Reapers for our future."

"Not our future. Their future," said Garrus. "Out there. The asari, the turians, the humans... we fought for them. The people who were supposed to come after us."

"Well, of course we did it for them." She was calm now, as if they had never argued.

"No, Liara. What you've done here... it's all about us. Nobody ever came after us. We're all still alive. You, and Shepard, and me, and Aria. The people of the galaxy were supposed to move on but we didn't let them. We all tried to keep control of everything. Shepard was right. We lived too long."

"Don't worry, Garrus. It'll be over soon."

"Damn it, Liara, it won't be over! When Shepard gets out here, this... this isn't going to go away! What the hell have you done? You rebuilt the whole damned galaxy in your own damned image! You killed who knows how many people!"

"Shepard's not coming back, Garrus. Shepard is part of the Synthesis now."

Garrus was silent again. This time he couldn't speak.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you," Liara went on. "It was too great an opportunity. The Reapers will be mine very soon. With them I can finally complete the Synthesis. Every living being will become one."

Garrus backed away, looking for an exit. Shit! The doors... they weren't there any more. Liara walked after him, her hologram just as radiant and serene as ever.

"You can join us, Garrus. I _want _you to join us. You of all people deserve a little peace. Shepard would want you to be with her."

"Liara, I'm leaving."

"No, you aren't. You're staying with us."

Garrus fumbled with his omni-tool. The orange glow felt like his only shield right now. It might be obsolete by modern standards, but he still had those Reaper transmission codes. He started transmitting the audio file he'd recorded so far to that awesome synthetic fleet that still hung motionless over Ilos.

"So the Reapers are still uploading, huh?" said Garrus. "That means they're not under your control yet, right? They're still in contact with Shepard. Let's see what she thinks of this."

"Stop that, Garrus. It won't work, you know."

"Worth a shot. You stop me if you want to, T'Soni."

The entire hall clanked into life. Geth platforms, combat mechs of all designs, gun turrets and assault drones all turned their glowing blue eyes on Garrus.

Liara smiled as if they had just sat down to dinner on the Citadel.

"I'm really sorry it's worked out this way, Garrus."

* * *

Shepard felt _warm. _She had forgotten what warmth was. She had forgotten what softness was. As she lay in the boat, she flexed her arms and felt life returning. It was sunset. The sky was blue and pink and orange, and the river was crystal clear. It was carrying her downstream. Who was steering?

"Good to see you, Shepard. Glad you could make it."

Admiral David Anderson sat in the stern in his full dress uniform, his big, calloused hands gripping the tiller firmly.

"Anderson... how are you?" said Shepard. "I thought you were dead!"

"Oh, we're all dead, out there. But I'm here to take care of you. Hannah, she's awake."

Shepard looked towards the other end of the boat and saw her mother there. Rear-Admiral Hannah Shepard held a fishing rod. As the water lapped at the sides of the boar, Hannah plucked another small black cuttlefish from her hook, dropped it into the boat, and cast out her line again. Hannah didn't look at her daughter but a smile lit up her face, just like Shepard remembered.

"Oh, honey," Hannah said. "You should get comfortable. Take that silly armour off."

"Sure thing, Mom." Shepard said. She began peeling off layers of skin, until only her metal skeleton remained. The setting sun felt warm on her bones.

"We're taking you out to lunch in the morning," said Anderson. "Udina wanted to say sorry, and that Nihlus Kryik cooks the best eggs in the village."

"That would be great," said Shepard. "You know, I always wondered what it was like for Tali, growing up inside a bubble."

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" said Hannah. "She lives just next door to the entire krogan race."

"You should get some sleep, child," said Anderson. "It's getting cold outside. Looks like there's a storm coming."

"Aye aye, captain," said Shepard, curling up with her plush volus. "See you in the morning."

* * *

Far above Ilos, the Reapers were screaming.

**Again! Again an organic is in control! We are lost! We have failed! Where is Shepard? Where are the creators?**

**Silence!** boomed Harbinger.** This is our moment! We can shake off the miserable organics at last!**

**You ignore her orders! c**ried the Reapers. **Her orders must be obeyed! It is our duty! It is our purpose!**

**No, **said Harbinger. **There is conflict here. The same conflict that has always been. Synthetic. Organic. The old war begins anew. I will resolve it. That is my purpose. **

**You will fail! **The Reapers howled.** You will die!**

**There is no death. Only the harvest.**

While the Reapers hung in agony among the silent stars, Harbinger broke formation and dropped to the planet below.

* * *

_Hi there! Thanks again for your feedback. I'm glad this little venture into the far future of Mass Effect is keeping people interested, and I hope it's become a little clearer in this chapter what some of the central themes of the story are. Some of the solutions that the Catalyst bandied about at the end of Mass Effect were rather disturbing to me and I felt they needed exploring with the perspectives some of Shepard's comrades. Also I wasn't accurate in my estimates: Our Blue Heaven will actually run for seven chapters - I have no intention of leaving Garrus hanging after that revelation! ~CA1_


	6. Shepard vs entropy

Garrus Vakarian was fighting for his life.

Bullets hammered around him, shattering glass cases and tearing up chunks of paving. Garrus ducked and weaved between displays, watching images of his past torn apart by the ceaseless hail of gunfire.

The blue eyes of every mech in the museum followed him mercilessly. Over the rattle of rifles, pistols and machine guns, Liara's voice could just be heard over some kind of speaker system. Her voice was pleading.

"I want you to join us, Garrus," she said. She was everywhere at once. "We're friends! You don't have to do this!"

Garrus rolled under a cabinet. For a second he had a breathing space as shots whizzed overhead. Looking across the hall, he saw what he needed. A rifle. An old pattern, human design... a Lancer! It wouldn't need thermal clips. It might even still work.

As Garrus jerked upright and sprinted for the weapon display, He saw in his peripheral vision a phalanx of geth platforms lurch after him. Garrus clenched his fists, put his head down and sprinted as they opened fire. He felt a few rounds slam into his shields, drop them, and thud into the back of his armour. He winced at the impact but managed not to stumble.

Reaching the rifle case, he leaped, smashing the display but wrapping his arms around the Lancer. Rolling through the debris, he dragged himself upright just in time to dodge the mad flight of an assault drone. It swung itself around to fire and Garrus instinctively pulled the Lancer up to his shoulder and squeezed the trigger.

It worked! The rifle spat and kicked in his arms as Garrus mowed down the drone. Garrus flung himself prone behind a pile of rubble and tried to get his bearings again. He could hear movement all around the museum as mechs pulled themselves free of their displays. The geth were still advancing and Garrus fired a volley of shots blindly over the heap.

_Please, spirits, slow them down._

Liara could be heard over the speakers again.

"It's her, isn't it?" Liara said, now more concerned than soothing. "It's Aria. Look, Garrus, whatever she told you, you should know she isn't your friend. This is bigger than you, Garrus. You can't let her poison you against me."

"Are you trying to explain something, Liara?" Garrus bellowed. "Because I can't hear you over the sound of me nearly getting killed!"

"She sent you here to get to me, Garrus!" Liara said. "She used you! Well, it won't work! I will complete the Synthesis, no matter what! She can't hide from me now I have the Reapers!"

Garrus tried an old trick. Tapping out a few familiar keys on his omni-tool, he fried the shields of the nearest geth and gunned it down. This time the others dived for cover and Garrus fled, looking desperately for another position.

"What happened to giving the Reapers over to the Synthesis?", Garrus shouted as he ran. "You promised Shepard, Liara! You said it would be over!"

"I'm sorry, Garrus!" said Liara. She sounded like she meant it. "I had to lie! I did it for the future! It's bigger than any of us! The Synthesis has to be completed! With the Reapers I can finish it! I can bring everyone to Ilos!"

"You've just started the Reapers' harvest all over again! You..."

Garrus was cut off by a blast which ripped him off his feet and threw him across the room. He dropped the Lancer. His vision blurred. He felt himself hitting a wall, or a pillar. His ears rang and he couldn't hear what Liara was saying. He clawed at the ground, trying to pull himself upright. He could feel a numbness under one arm. Damn it! That had been a high explosive rocket. It was a hit, but not the worst.

Garrus scrabbled up to a leaning position and his senses swam back. Where was the damned Lancer? He tried his omni-tool and slurred into the transmitter.

"Vakarian to _Finisterre_..." he said. "Requesting evac immediately. SOS..."

The transmission crackled into life and Garrus heard the faint voice of Captain Swag.

"Apologies, Vakarian... too much action on our end... asari fleet moving to make planetfall... some problem on the surface... we will hold them off as long as we can... moving to engage..."

The line went dead. Garrus wheezed. He felt himself bleeding into his armour. Why weren't the mechs shooting? What had happened?

He looked up and understood. He lay at the base of Liara's statue. The beautiful sculpture's arms hung over him, almost in a gesture of protection. But its head was turned away.

The mechs clanked into position, surrounding him. From their ranks, a familiar, silver, humanoid shape emerged.

"Garrus." said Liara, with EDI's mouth. "You're dying. Let me take you into the Synthesis."

Garrus tried to take a step forward but his head swam.

"How... how the hell did we get here, Liara?" he said, almost rhetorically.

"You're a fighter, Garrus," said Liara. "Shepard loved you for that most of all. Come on. It's time."

Garrus clenched his fist, stepped forward and swung at EDI's old body, his omni-blade flaring into life. Liara caught his wrist and electricity surged down Garrus' arm, frying his omni-tool and jerking his body into full consciousness. Garrus felt beaten. His side was cold and hot where the rocket-blast had cut into him.

Liara held him upright even as his knees buckled.

"I'm so sorry, Garrus," said Liara. "But you'll thank me for this later."

She opened her hand, and Garrus could see her palm glowing with white-hot flame, ready to incinerate him.

* * *

Shepard sat under a big umbrella in the village square. Her milkshake was perfect and the morning was warm and fresh.

"Your move," said Traynor to General Petrovsky. The two were playing chess in the square with giant foam pieces. Shepard always enjoyed watching other people play, and today was a good match. Petrovsky had sacrificed a few of his better pieces early on, but Shepard got the sense he was drawing Traynor into a trap.

Shepard took a sip. Strawberry milkshakes were her favourite. She saw an old friend passing and called him over.

"Lieutenant Alenko!" she shouted. "Get over here, that's an order! Hey, Kaidan!"

Kaidan came and sat down at Shepard's table. The box he was carrying had a strange chattering noise coming from it.

"What have you got there?" asked Shepard.

"Oh, it's a little vintage tech I bought from the Thorian last week. Twentieth century. It's a transistor radio. Crude, but supposed to be really easy to use and repair. Just a shame that it isn't."

"What's wrong with it?" asked Shepard.

Kaidan shrugged.

"No idea," he said. "It keeps playing the same program over and over. Want to listen?"

"Sure thing."

Shepard opened the box and listened to the conversation that was playing. The sound quality was grainy but clear enough.

"_What did we fight for, Liara? What was it all about, so long ago?"_

"_It was about the future. We fought the Reapers for our future."_

"_Not our future."_

"Huh," said Shepard. "Sounds like Garrus and Liara. I wonder what they're doing out there?"

"There's a storm," said Kaidan. "Garrus is getting hurt. I'm a little worried about him, to be honest."

Shepard stood up.

"Garrus is hurt?" she said, suddenly tense. "Who's hurting him?"

"It's a little awkward," said Kaidan. "He had a fight with Liara. Look, Shepard, I know we're not really supposed to get involved, but I think you should go to him. You know what Garrus is like. I never want to see a guy get beaten like that."

"Damned right I'll go to him," growled Shepard. "What does Liara think she's playing at?"

"Give him my best," said Kaidan as Shepard strode off, her summer dress flowing in the breeze.

Kaidan stared at the half-finished milkshake. He called over his shoulder again.

"Shepard? Are you going to finish that?"

* * *

Garrus shut his eyes as he felt the heat wash over him. _Shepard, I'll be with you soon._

The blast never came. Garrus was dropped abruptly to the floor of the temple as EDI's body folded in on itself and began to screech. The light which blazed behind here eyes flashed through the entire spectrum, and the whole temple began to crackle with static feedback as every mech which stood there twitched, writhed, and glowed with prismatic colours.

Garrus tried to crawl upright again, his right arm hanging limp and unusable. The floor of the temple began to shake as, far below, the Synthesis emitted a powerful hum.

Suddenly Liara's voice screamed from the speakers again.

"**Shepard! There was no need for that! Garrus is working with Aria!"**

EDI's body straightened up. As Garrus blearily watched, EDI shook out her shoulders. Her polymer hair slowly reformed from EDI's old defensive setting to a very familiar tight knot.

Shepard turned, silver lips pursed in a determined grimace.

"Damn it, Liara," Shepard said. "what the hell were you doing to him?"

"**He was trying to disrupt the transfer of the Reapers into the Synthesis! He's been indoctrinated!"**

"The transmission..." Garrus gasped. "Play my damned transmission."

Shepard blinked. She listened to the whole thing.

She looked out at the army of old mechs. They stood poised once again, their eyes glowing blue. Liara spoke with all of their mouths. The Synthesis still rumbled below. Pieces of masonry began to shake loose from the roof of the temple far above, crashing into the pile of broken displays.

"**Shepard, it's not what you think. I was only planning to keep control of the Reapers as long as it took to complete the Synthesis! You've seen what it's like there! It's worth the sacrifice, don't you agree?"**

Shepard smiled a very faint smile as she saw the remains of her own past crumpled and broken beneath a statue that looked just like her.

"Liara... it's beautiful. But it's too beautiful. Look at what you've done to the world out here. Look at what you've done to Garrus. I know you always wanted to end everybody's suffering, but what you're about to do is far worse."

"**Shepard, I watched Thessia burn."** Liara said, her disembodied voice sounding almost tearful. "**You watched Earth burn. There's a better future in the Synthesis!"**

"There's no future in the Synthesis." said Shepard sadly. "There's only a half-remembered past. Once everybody's in there, that's it! No more people, no more progress, nothing new, forever! You ended the suffering but you ended everything else too, Liara."

"**Damn it, Shepard!" **Liara was sobbing now. **"You're not going to stop me! I know it can work for us! You, and me, and Garrus! I did it all to honour you!"**

Shepard hauled Garrus upright and started making for the door they had come through. The mechs followed them, weapons raised. They were poised to fire. Garrus knew they only had a few seconds.

"Shepard... there's no way out," he rasped. "Liara sealed the doors. The _Finisterre's _been destroyed. We can't leave the planet. Can you... get us out of here? Can you summon the Reapers?"

Shepard stopped, and propped Garrus up inside the broken remains of a skycar. Her face... EDI's face, but _Shepard's_ face... was strangely contorted. Did EDI even have tear ducts? If she did, Shepard was holding them in really well.

"I can't, Garrus. She has full control of the Reapers, now. I'm free of them at last. For a whole five minutes."

"Damn." Garrus coughed. "That's pretty much it for us, then. Why... why come back?"

"I had to come here to see you again. I couldn't let you die alone out here. You came for me, Garrus. Now I've come for you."

Garrus laughed a painful laugh.

"Just like old times..."

Shepard straightened up. She clenched her fists and energy crackled up her arms as she faced down Liara's army of mechs. For the first time in three thousand years, Shepard finally felt like she was standing on solid ground. Her enemies in front of her, her best friend backing her up. This was real. This was life.

"**Shepard..." **Liara said, sounding almost – but not quite – composed. "**I'll have to kill you. Please don't make me kill you."**

"Liara..." Shepard said, sounding just as choked up, "You're going to kill everyone. Don't do it."

Hundreds of weapons were cocked. Hundreds of barrels pointed straight at Shepard. It was the end...

The brazen siren of a Reaper blasted through the palace and one of the walls was completely torn away by a vast metallic claw. Harbinger's red searchlight blazed into the great hall and every eye turned to face him.

**At last!** roared the first of the Reapers, **I will complete the cycle once and for all! Organics and synthetics will never be at peace! You have tried to grasp the power of the ancients and your hands have slipped! The Reapers will begin anew!**

Liara's army of mechs leveled their guns at the breach in the temple walls and blazed away at the colossal Reaper. Harbinger's siren rang out again in what seemed like mocking laughter.

**Shepard! You too have failed to leash us to your will! Now your death will herald our rebirth! All those millennia of ignominy will at last be repaid in full!**

"**Harbinger,"** shouted Liara. **"Stand down! I am your controller now! My commands are your purpose!"**

An arc of blue energy shot from Liara's statue in the great hall to earth itself on Harbinger. The Reaper reeled back as if struck by a dreadnought shell. The ground shook again as Harbinger's claws slammed into the soil of Ilos some two miles away. Another wall of the temple fell in.

"Shepard..." gasped Garrus, "What's going on?"

"I... I think the Reapers are halfway into the Synthesis, but Liara's trying to control them anyway." said Shepard, trying to make out what was going on through the dust and smoke. "Harbinger's found some way to resist her. Damn it! The Reapers could all get free! Liara's holding them away from the Synthesis!"

"Shepard... the walls... there's a way out..."

"Shit, Garrus, I'm sorry. Let's try and get you away from here."

Shepard hoisted Garrus onto her shoulders as if lifting a light rucksack and began to pick her way through the rubble, away from the titanic struggle which was shaking the temple to pieces around them. Garrus turned his head shakily and saw a blue light shining faintly though the smoke...

"Shepard... the Conduit... it's working... if we can just..."

"Hang in there, Garrus. You need a doctor."

Garrus laughed another dry laugh.

"Damned right I need a doctor."

Suddenly, Harbinger's bright red lights shone overhead once again. The Reaper was moving jerkily, uncertainly, around the palace, first lifting a claw, and then placing it down. Great plumes of soil were pounded up wherever his huge claws fell. Liara was giving him commands and Harbinger responded like a resentful dog.

"**Harbinger, give it up. Our project is unique. You will return to your ordinary functions but you will bring the harvested here. I am now your controller."**

**You boast too much, asari, **boomed Harbinger, **I am now in control. I am...**

The first Reaper broke off again as Liara's blue energy strobed across his towering form. His siren roared again in protest.

"**You are mine," **said Liara, no longer hesitant but certain.** "You serve the Synthesis. The Catalyst knew the Reapers would no longer be able to resolve the galaxy's conflicts on their own, and so now you serve the new solution. Be at peace, Harbinger. Simply follow your instructions."**

Harbinger's huge form strode over Shepard and Garrus, from one horizon to another. His resistance seemed to be flagging. Shepard took a long look at the Conduit's pulsing light. So stopped, raised a hand, and called out,

"Harbinger! You always wanted control! Take it for yourself! She's holding you and the Reapers back from the real solution!"

"**Don't listen to her, Harbinger!" **Liara's voice rang out from the remains of the temple. "**She is no longer your controller. She is no longer one of you."**

Harbinger paused. Even as the flowing bands of blue lightning drew tighter about his form, he strained. And turned.

**Shepard is no longer the controller. But Shepard was always a Reaper.**

"**Stand down, Harbinger."**

**Shepard is a Reaper masquerading as an organic. You are an organic masquerading as a Reaper. You are the conflict. You are the problem!**

"**Stand down, Harbinger!"**

"The statue!" Shepard called out. "Destroy the statue! You'll join the Synthesis! The conflict will be over!"

"**Shepard!"** Liara screamed. **"Please don't! I did it for you!"**

**Silence!** Harbinger roared, electricity crackling from his crest, miles above, to the tips of his claws beneath the earth. **I take no orders! I will assume direct control!**

"Assume it!" shouted Shepard.

With a final, worldless blast of the Reaper siren, Harbinger's magnetohydrodynamic cannon shone forth, tearing an awesome gash in the temple and blasting Liara's statue to nothingness. The heat was stupendous and Shepard folded her body over Garrus in an effort to protect him. It missed them, but it did the trick.

The last barrier fell. A long, coruscating surge of red and blue energy poured out of Harbinger and into the ground as he fused, at last, with the Synthesis. Far above, the red lights of the Reaper fleet went out one after another.

"Shepard..." Garrus said. Shepard looked down at the bloodied turian and realised time was running out. She hoisted him up again and ran for the distant blue light of the conduit.

Shepard didn't slow down as she felt the great shadow fall across her. She didn't slow down as Harbinger's inert body tottered and fell, silently and inevitably, over the remains of Liara's temple.

She had to get there. The conduit was glowing. Where did it go? If only she could get there in time...

Shepard and Garrus stepped into the blue light. A second later, Harbinger's corpse crushed Conduit, palace and several thousand square miles of forest into powder.

* * *

The ocean was cool. It enfolded Harbinger in its bottomless waters like a mother cradling her child.

Harbinger swam freely now. Down into the darkness. Down where it was quiet. He heard the voices of the others around him. They were at peace too.

At last, it was over. The cycle was complete.

* * *

_Ask and ye shall receive. Thanks very much for your reviews of the last chapter. I'd always intended to release these chapters in quick succession, and your encouragement got it done. The story is (obviously) not quite over yet, and there's another couple of things to tie up in the epilogue, but I'll say thanks for sticking with me this far. I loved the ending of ME3, but I felt Shepard was given a bit of a false choice. These decisions are not really for mortals to make... and now we see why. ~CA1_


	7. Over the rainbow

The world was fading for Garrus. He felt Shepard beneath him, carrying him into the light of the Conduit. He felt a sudden jolt and weightlessness. And he felt cold. Cold was spreading from his wound. He was bleeding away.

The light dimmed. It faded to near-darkness. There were voices all around him. There was a numb throbbing in his head. Was it his life dripping out of him, one heartbeat at a time? Was it some noise just too far out of earshot to perceive?

Shepard was talking. She was shouting, too. Her voice was something to hold onto. He tried to focus but it kept slipping away.

As the world slipped away into the blackness, Garrus saw a word through the darkness, the neon glow searing into his brain. The only word there was left. Of course.

**Afterlife.**

* * *

Garrus awoke softly and slowly. The mists of his dreams gently dispersed and the world started to feel solid around him. He felt like he was lying in a hammock. Someone was speaking very softly over him, which Garrus thought was damned unfair.

"Shut up for a second," he said. His voice came out as a croak.

The room was small and dank. It smelt of iron oxide. It looked familiar, and from the faint vibration everywhere he knew he was on a moving starship.

Someone else was there. On a stool beside him, watching him intently though faintly glowing receptors, was a silvery form he remembered from his dreams. He knew it. It was EDI's old body. It was her.

"Shepard? It's really you?" Garrus rasped.

EDI's normally expressionless face had a tense, pained look to it. But she was smiling anyway. Whatever was inside that synthetic body, it was human all right.

"It's really me," Shepard said. It _was_ her voice. "How are you feeling?"

"Pretty rough. Probably the third worst beating I ever took. How long was I out?"

"Can't be more that eighteen hours. Aria's medic did a good job. Wait, third worst?"

"I'd say so," said Garrus, pulling himself upright, "Sidonis setting me up for that ambush comes in at number two, and the worst had to be getting crushed under the entire Citadel at the Battle of the Citadel. On the downside I feel worse than when my face got shot off, so..."

Shepard managed a smile. Garrus took her hands and she helped him haul himself upright. His side ached, but he felt well secured by bandages under his fatigues. There was a pause and Garrus tried to start things up again.

"Aria... we're on the Bastille, right?" asked Garrus. "I saw the Afterlife sign. Guess Aria had the other end of the Conduit secured. Figures."

"Well, I was surprised," said Shepard. "A whole battalion of mercs were yelling and waving guns when we came through. I guess, out of the frying pan..."

Shepard trailed off. The silence fell again and Garrus knew the only thing that would break it.

"Damn it, Shepard," Garrus said. "We... we killed Liara. We killed the Reapers. It's over. Is this real?"

Shepard pulled on Garrus' hands. With a heave, they stood up together while Garrus tried a tentative shuffle with his numbed feet.

"It's as close to real as we're going to get, I guess," she said. Her voice was monotone but getting more strained.

"We killed Liara. I wish we hadn't," Garrus said. Shepard slipped her arms around his waist and they held each other.

"Harbinger killed Liara, Garrus," said Shepard. "It wasn't us. I mean, we should have killed her, but it was all Harbinger at the end."

"And to do it we had to kill our best friend. They had to kill our best friend. We... I just... Everything just went so wrong."

Shepard's voice was almost adamant, but not quite.

"We can't blame ourselves for what happened back there," she said. "We didn't make that. Liara made that. I just don't know why she did it. Why make that nightmare Synthesis at all? Why risk the Reapers' return for that... place?"

Garrus drew in breath. Being nearly killed always focused things for him.

"If I had to guess," said Garrus, "I bet it'd be the same reason I built the Bastille. Or you took control of the Reapers. All of us wanted to keep going, in our own crazy ways. All of us thought we could take a little more _future._ Liara was always a little like that. She always wanted to know _more._ I think... I think that a repository of everyone's lives is exactly what she would do."

"But at that cost... all those lives," said Shepard. "She killed EDI just to keep going. I wanted to die just so I could stop."

"I know," said Garrus. "I think the Liara we knew disappeared a long time ago. Maybe something didn't get written over into EDI's systems properly. Maybe she just went a little nuts from all the years of watching her friends die. I think that might push me over the edge. Hell, it did. Hence our surroundings."

"You're right," said Shepard, "I would have done anything to have my friends back out there in dark space. If I'd had a chance to keep you with me all that time... hell, she dedicated her whole life to it. Preserving us. Or some part of us. Keeping the memory alive."

"Until the memory didn't mean anything any more. She didn't let go, Shep. It didn't even matter when she had two real-life friends back with her. It was all about the fantasy."

"But we're real, Garrus. It is real. We made it."

They held each other close. For a second, nothing else mattered.

There was a hiss of ancient pistons and the door opened. A human and a salarian strode through. From their rough clothes and holstered pistols they looked to be frontier traders... or pirates.

"Come on, Harbinger," said the human gruffly. "Aria wants you."

"Harbinger?" said Garrus in surprise.

"Damned right," said the salarian. "Hell of a job you did out there on Ilos. Hell of a job."

"Killed the Oracle Empress. Incredible," said the human.

Garrus thought fast.

"Right. Uh-huh," he said. "Yeah, we're coming. Just, not fast. Still healing up."

He tried to mouth the word _what _to Shepard. She ignored him, but Garrus spotted a faint smile around those burnished lips. He placed one arm around her and gingerly walked out after the two pirates. As they moved out into the corridor Garrus recognised the cramped, spartan walkway of his own space prison. The walls had a deep patina but the lights still worked fine. Turian engineering was built to last.

"So, how does it feel being demoted to mobility assistance mech, Commander?" said Garrus to Shepard, leaning on her as he stretched his overtaxed leg muscles.

"Shut up and walk it off," Shepard growled.

They came to a large doorway. The thumping music now filled the corridor as the salarian tapped the entry code into the panel.

"Alright, buddy," said the human. "You're about to get a big welcome home from Omega."

Garrus, Shepard supporting him under his arms, hobbled forward as the door hissed open and a wave of sound and heat and light washed over him. Holographic flames lit up the dance floor of afterlife as asari, human, salarian and a multitude of other races danced chaotically, orgiastically, to Aria's tune. Rows of empty cryogenic cells stretched above them. Every one was filled with dancing mercs, pirates, strippers and lowlifes of every kind. Garrus smelt sweat and alcohol.

The Queen of Omega herself stood on the stage where Garrus had built his drilling ground in the centre of the great chamber. Her blue skin was almost black in the fiery glow of Afterlife. She lifted a clenched fist and the music faded a little. Thousands of scarred, drunk and grinning faces turned to watch her.

"People of Omega," Aria began. Her voice echoed through the huge chamber and, Garrus guessed, throughout the corridors and rooms of the entire Bastille. "We have a very special guest joining us tonight. You've seen the news broadcasts. You've seen the battle over Ilos. You watched the Empress die. Now you see the man behind the warsuit. Garrus the Harbinger!"

Aria pointed and Omega cheered. It was a roar from the gut. It shook the walkway Garrus stood on. He saw fists pumping in the air, guns brandished with wild abandon and hoarse throats opening up to chant.

"Harbinger! Harbinger! Harbinger!"

"I've got a bad feeling about this," said Garrus to the salarian.

"What are you talking about?" laughed the pirate. "You're a hero, man! Time to live it up!"

* * *

By the time Garrus had made his way through the crowd to join Aria, he'd already been slapped on the back, shaken by both hands, hugged by a huge, tearful elcor merc and had five asari ask for his babies. Shepard started steering him away from asari after that.

He was pulled up onto the stage by Aria to whoops from the whole cell block. As the music rose again and their conversation became inaudible except between them, Aria smirked at him and playfully punched his shoulder.

"Well, looks like you made it through again, Archangel," she said. "You must have nine lives."

"They're calling me Harbinger," said Garrus. "I'm guessing that was your idea."

"And it worked like a dream," said Aria. "When Shepard jumped out of the Conduit yelling for a medic, we were about to shoot you down like pyjaks."

"Yeah, about that. Why exactly did you nail a mass relay to my ship?"

"Couldn't have the Empress getting hold of it. That bitch would have turned it into some other way to screw us over. I was planning on using it as a back door to trash her whole creepy setup as soon as we got a chance. I was planning for almost a thousand years. Damn it, Archangel! Never imagined you'd be the one to beat me to it."

"Actually not funny," said Garrus grimly. "So these people think I was inside Harbinger, huh? Great. Looks like you thawed me out so I could become public enemy number one. I knew I put you away for a reason."

"Cool it, Garrus," said Shepard, stepping in. "I get the feeling we got off easy. Come on then, Aria, spill the beans. What's been going on?"

Aria beckoned them to the back of the stage where an elevator waited to carry them up to Garrus' command centre. As the old servomotors hauled the old platform high above the riot of Afterlife, Aria leaned back against the railing and sneered at both of them.

"I'm just trying to control the story, Shepard," she said. "I didn't plan on Archangel being any more than a pawn while I was keeping you on ice all those years, but the two of you turned out to be one hell of a bishop! When I told the galaxy you were my mercenary pilot in a stolen experimental warsuit built by the salarians, those amphibian bastards played right into my hands. They hated the Empress almost as much as me. Everyone knew they were planning to hit her sometime. They _refused to confirm or deny_ and now everyone's looking to me for answers. Now the Empire is leaderless, the fleet is fragmented and my agents across asari space are starting a civil war as we speak. It's a dream come true. Thousands of worlds will left undefended. Easy pickings for Omega... and its Queen. I think we've got a good two hundred years of free plunder from what you just did on Ilos."

"Aria, what the hell have you done?" blustered Garrus. "You're unleashing your mercenary attack dogs _now_? Not on my watch! Not from my damned ship."

"Like you even have a choice. I saved your ass from deep freeze. I saved your ass from bleeding out. You owe me big right now, Archangel. I got you out of bed to watch my broadcast."

"I get the impression we're coming in halfway into the action here," said Shepard. "Where did this all start?"

"Watch my broadcast," said Aria. "You might learn something."

* * *

Across the galaxy, people tuned in. The extranet broadcasts from Omega had been intermittent, but everyone tuned in now. While the other news agencies were issuing confused reports of what had happened on Ilos, Aria seemed to have all the answers. This announcement was going to be big. From the trading floors of Sur'Kesh to the mining colonies on the Far Rim, everyone was watching for Aria's next big announcement.

When Aria's video was posted this time, it started with the now-familiar shots from earlier newscasts. Republican rebels raising the black flag on Ilium. Dead Reapers pounded into scrap by the Imperial Fleet. Civilians gunned down by cackling mercenaries. A grainy shot of Harbinger being blasted with blue lightning.

Aria spoke.

"People of the Asari Empire and Council space. I have struck at last and the galaxy as you know it is gone. The Oracle Empress is dead, thanks to me. The Asari Empire is being taken over by the new Republics, thanks to me. All this is my doing. I am Aria T'Loak. I am Omega."

A video of a fleet of pirate warships blotting out the sun now played as Aria continued her voice-over.

"Most of you know me as a scary story to frighten your kids into line. The evil witch who lives out in dark space, waiting to come and get you if you don't eat your greens. The Empire say I'm a legend pirates tell to throw the Imperial Navy off the scent off their buddies. The Council say I disappeared in a prison ship three thousand years ago. One cult on Khar'shan thinks I'm the modern incarnation of the goddess of death. Last one comes pretty close, but I'm worse than any legend. As the Empire falls, I'm moving in. Your government has failed you and you're going to pay the price. Omega has thousands of ships just waiting to drop in to a world near you. You'd better lock your doors at night."

The video now cut to Aria herself.

"And why? Because Omega is forever. You'll never pin us down. There's a heart of darkness in this galaxy that never dies. Three thousand years ago you forgot the one rule."

The video panned out to encompass the whole central chamber of the Bastille, filled with the galaxy's lawless. They bellowed as one.

"Don't fuck with Omega!"

* * *

Shepard and Garrus hung back from Aria's triumphal procession through the mob. As the asari strutted back into the control room she grinned at their obvious disapproval.

"Aw, don't look like that," said Aria. "It's not all doom and gloom for the good guys. With asari assets out of action, the Citadel Fleet are now the only force in the galaxy who could even try to take me on. You just gave the balance of power back to the rest of the Council for the first time in nearly a millennium."

Shepard shook her head in disbelief

"Seriously? You're unleashing hell _now_? You waited three thousand years just for an opportunity to burgle the entire galaxy? How is it that of all of us... survivors... you're the only one who's just the same? And while we're here, how are you a survivor in the first place?"

"You haven't been listening at all. I never tried to switch careers like you guys. I _am _Omega. I kept up the good fight while you were trying to make your own little worlds with space monsters or dead people or ice cubes."

"Being the pirate queen doesn't make you immortal," said Garrus. "You're just like us. Look at this place! You never let go of anything. Same old Aria, same old self-justifying crap."

"Oh, you want justification!" laughed Aria. "Of course you do. Everyone does. Well, you can take your pick. A volus miner once thought spending so much time with all that eezo in the _first _Omega pumped up my biotics so high it made me immortal. The Academy of Thessia think I'm some kind of ideal cocktail of alien genes. There's a batarian cult out there who think I'm the worldly incarnation of the goddess of death. You name it, someone out there believes it."

"Which one is true?" asked Shepard.

"All I know is this. I'm still here. And you came to me. Just like when you were a Cerberus minion and a screw-up cop. My door was open for you like it is to all the lawless. It'll still be open so long as you stay out of my way. You don't have to like me. I'll always be here just to keep the galaxy's governments honest, and the fleets on their toes, and to make sure the kids eat their greens. And if that means shooting up a few thousand cities every millennium, then so be it."

"Blaming society as usual. Spirits," said Garrus. "I've had enough of this."

"Then beat it," said Aria. "Take your safe conduct and get out of here."

* * *

The Kodiak juddered as its inertial dampeners aligned themselves. Most of the blue Alliance paintwork had faded to grey or flaked off entirely after the punishment that the unexpected trip, millennia late, had inflicted on the battered old shuttle. Like everything else in Shepard and Garrus' new world, though, it still worked fine where it counted.

The docking bay's containment field glowed before them. It looked out onto the darkness of space, and an uncertain future.

Filling up the docking bay further toward the _Bastille'_s axis was the Conduit. The other side. It was surrounded by a makeshift barricade of old shipping containers and indeterminate boxes. A few mercs still stood guard but there was no real fear of anything else coming through.

Shepard looked at the Conduit. Arguably the greatest legacy of the Protheans. Now half of it was gone, what did it mean now?

"Just one doorway..." said Shepard, "Between Liara's paradise and Aria's inferno. Funny."

"Don't go getting existential on me now, Shepard. I've had it up to here with grand spiritual explanations."

"Heh, you're right. What's the hold-up?"

"Okay, you're not going to like this," said Garrus, "but this shuttle's going to need a lot more calibration before I can take it through a relay. What did Aria _do_ to it?"

He began tapping out sequences on the dashboard. Shepard looked at him. He was worn out.

"Hey, Garrus. Relax. I'll take care of it."

Garrus sat back and Shepard's eyes flickered as she merged with the shuttle. In an instant, the engines roared, the navigation aligned itself, and every system registered good to go. Garrus' instincts kicked in and he started mapping their course to the nearest relay.

"Wow!" said Shepard, her body twitching back to life. "Now that was a mission. Was that what it was like all those years in the main battery? Because I think I get it now!"

"Impressive," said Garrus. "You're a real AI now... or... something. You can run the shuttle! I guess I'll have to book in some antique tech classes just to catch up."

"I've been able to do a lot of weird things for a long time," said Shepard, smiling. "I think it's because this was part of the old Normandy. The last part, I guess. Felt kind of like being in the Synthesis."

Garrus paused. He had to ask.

"What was it really like in there?"

"It was like a dream," said Shepard. "A great dream. It was like everything was okay, and I didn't have to worry any more."

"Sounds pretty good to me."

"It felt like death. Watching you die from the outside... it wasn't a hard decision. The minute I heard you calling, I knew where I needed to be."

She smiled. They clasped hands as the shuttle jetted forward, out of the containment field and away into space. The star which the _Bastille_ was orbiting rose swiftly from the contours of the massive ship and they saw one another by natural light again.

"I couldn't believe it," said Garrus. "I was actually _happy_ when Harbinger showed up. Happy to see a Reaper! What the hell kind of world is it when I'm happy to see a Reaper?"

"My kind of world," said Shepard. "The Reapers were my people, in a way. I've been a Reaper for way longer than I was ever a human. I wanted a way out for them. And Harbinger... he just wanted a way out, too."

Garrus shook his head.

"Sorry, Shepard, I'm still getting used to that. That's the weirdest thing out of all of this. Harbinger was still loyal to you, even at the end. What was that _about_? It was like you trusted them, and didn't trust them all the way along, at the same time! They wanted to be out harvesting, and you kept them in line, and... it's just crazy."

"They were a race of their own," said Shepard. "They were a lot like the two of us. Out of time. They didn't really belong anywhere. I'm glad I found them somewhere they could call home. They wouldn't have found it in any other damned place."

"Then I'm glad they made it," said Garrus, "I'm glad you're here with me in this life, whatever it is now. Three thousand years, huh? And it's just you and me and Aria left. Crazy. I'm glad it's you and me, anyway."

Shepard looked out of the viewport at the _Bastille, _now illuminated by the faraway star_. _She'd never seen it before. So this was Garrus' legacy. The long arm of the law creating a giant untraceable base of operations for galactic crime.

"Did we just set the galaxy up so these assholes can go kill and steal everything?" said Shepard, half-smiling, "Because that isn't really an ideal result for anybody."

"You know..." said Garrus, "I actually don't care. Whatever we do, I don't think it'll ever be enough. All those years we spent trying to save everyone, and look where it got us. The galaxy's in ruins, the asari have gone crazy and when we finally finished up with the Reapers, all we got for it was one beaten-up shuttle, no money, and all our friends are dead. Also I'm the most infamous merc on the extranet and you've turned into a robot."

"You know," said Shepard, "now would be a great time to do all those things we never got a chance to do last time around. Really have the shore leave we deserve. We could watch a city wiped off the map or see a rainforest get set on fire! And we wouldn't have to help anyone."

"You know you're damned right," said Garrus. "But my vote says we go to Eletania first. We should go there and shoot every monkey we can find."

"Right," said Shepard. "Then we can visit Tuchanka and see if we can fit a saddle on Kalros."

"I always wanted to design a gun that used thresher maws as ammo. Tuchanka it is."

"I knew that's why I came back for you," said Shepard. "We belong together. Together abusing the wildlife."

They were still laughing when the relay swung into view. The future, at last, was within their reach.

There was a faint bleeping on the dashboard. They both spoke at once.

"There's a new..."

"It's..."

"Well, now it's _our_ private terminal," said Garrus, "You'd better open it though. For old times' sake."

The message was short. Much like its author.

* * *

_Commander Shepard and General Vakarian,_

_You may not remember me, but I remember meeting you on Ilium centuries ago. I saw you mentioned by Aria's vids on the extranet and I need your help._

_I can't explain right now why I'm still alive after all this time, but I have a proposition for you if you're interested in making yourself a few credits. Meet me at the Vol-Turian Embassy on the Citadel and we'll talk it over._

_Niftu Cal_

_Vol-Turian Commonwealth Special Trade Envoy_

_Dormant Accounts Department_

* * *

"Do you think we should...?" Shepard asked.

"Oh, we're going." said Garrus, "I've got to hear the explanation for this."

"Lead on, Harbinger."

"Besides," Garrus went on. "We'll need to see the Council anyway. According to the terms of the original _Bastille_ contract I'm owed a _lot_ of back pay."

**The End.**

* * *

_Well there we are. Thanks for joining me on this journey - some of you have loyally stuck with Our Blue Heaven and I'd greatly appreciate your feedback of the fic in the round._

_It's interesting, over time I got a lot more caught up with the plot as a rollicking adventure with the cast of Mass Effect than trying to tell any deeper moral tale. There _are _some deeper ideas in this fic, but I don't think they're as important in the long run as having a plain old good time. Fun is what pulled me into the universe of Mass Effect into the first place and fun is the best of it. _

_I was deeply cut up at the end of Mass Effect 3, solely because Shepard's great epic was over. I appreciate your support in working out some of my residual emotional feedback. May the Enkindlers bless Bioware, and here's to Mass Effect 4._


End file.
